Let Me Spin You a Yarn By The Fire
by Increasing Paranoia
Summary: AU Axel is a ridiculously rich writer. Roxas is his much put-upon editor. Rating is M for cursing.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Yes, I will eventually finish The Thin Man, but it takes awhile, darn it! So here's another chapter series for you. The Looking Glass Wars is another Kingdom Hearts fic by my sister A Spot of Bother. Much as I love the story, she has yet to finish it.

* * *

Axel paused in his typing and leaned back in his chair, sighing as he felt his back crack. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before settling the glasses back onto his face and glaring at his laptop screen. His fingers settled back onto the keyboard, ready to fly at a moment's notice as soon as the words came. But the words didn't come. The red-head let out an angry snort before picking up the phone and dialing the only seven digits he ever bothered to memorize.

Roxas woke slowly, his eyes taking a moment to focus on the red smudges of his digital clock. 3:16 AM. He was going to kill whoever was on the other end of his phone line.

"What?" he snapped irritably. To hell with polite greetings, it was three-thirty in the morning and the blond _knew_ there was only one person suicidal enough to call him before seven.

"I need you," Axel stated, unperturbed by Roxas' less than pleasant greeting.

"Axel, I swear to God, if you are calling me drunk again..." The man in question sighed and Roxas could _hear_ him rolling his eyes.

"No, Rox, listen. This ending bit isn't sitting right and I need your help."

"My work hours are nine to five, Axel, as I've told you before. Now leave me alone. If I have to deal with you, I need all the sleep I can get so I don't murder you."

"Roxas," Axel whined. "I need you _now_, before I forget my ideas. And if I forget my ideas, I'll blow my deadline and if I do _that_, you _know_ your boss will want an explanation as to why I'm late, and I'll tell him -"

"Shut up," Roxas interrupted as he sat up and scrubbed his face with his free hand. "If I have to deal with you when sleep deprived, you damn well better have a shit ton of coffee and breakfast ready when I get there."

For all the shit the two gave each other, Axel refused to work with anyone else. And Roxas would never admit it, but he's pretty sure he'd bodily hurt anyone who tried. How the two managed to work together was a mystery because it seemed like all they did was bicker. On top of all of that, the two of them came from entirely different backgrounds.

Roxas was the youngest of two sons from a working middle class family. He had gotten good grades, earned a scholarship and worked his way through college, eventually earning a degree in English. Axel, on the other hand, had come from money. And he had only made more of it since he began his writing career at the age of twenty-two. That same year - and at the same age - Roxas had been hired by XIII, a well-known publishing company and had had the rough-draft of Axel Lea's first novel thrust into his hands.

The blond could not say that he and Axel had immediately become friends. The smug red-head had irritated Roxas to no end. A simple visit to solidify who the dedication would be going to had taken six hours and had involved Axel pacing his loft and outlining his second novel. Roxas had found it particularly taxing when the red-head kept pausing to look at him and asking, "Got it memorized?" It was only after Axel had asked the blond to recall _every last detail_ of his diatribe that Roxas realized - Axel really did _not_ remember his ideas. _How the hell did he focus long enough to write that first novel?_ Roxas wondered irritably after an eight hour session of writing down everything his new ward rambled at him. When he finally managed to get Axel's book published, he thought he had freed himself from insanity. He was wrong.

Roxas did have to give it to Xemnas. The older man _had_ tried to find another editor to work with the pyromaniac, especially since Roxas was in the middle of another project by the time the red-head sent in a partial draft for his second novel. But none of them lasted. Larxene even claimed that their enigmatic protege had tried to set her on fire. Roxas wasn't sure if that story was true, but if it was...he really couldn't blame the man. By the time Axel had finally finished ranting and raving at Xemnas, Roxas found himself the sole keeper of XIII new star. He couldn't decided if he wanted to kill himself, or Xemnas for putting him in this position. He was an editor, not a baby-sitter, dammit! Roxas was sure that one of them would be dead within a month.

But here they were, five years later and both of them still alive. _At least for the moment_, Roxas thought darkly as he trekked across the penthouse lobby. He wasn't really all that angry. He would have been visiting the pyromaniac today anyway, Axel had a nasty habit of scheduling unplanned getaways to Hollow Bastion or the Land of Dragons if Roxas didn't stop by every other day. Roxas grinned tiredly as the elevator made the trip to the top floor. He'd never forget when he went on vacation without telling the red-head. He had received a very lengthy voice-mail from Xemnas, telling him to cut his trip short and to collect his ward from Port Royal. He had really reamed the pyromaniac out but the stupid idiot had just sat there and _beamed_ at him. Roxas wound up rolling his eyes and muttering about stupid writers and how grown men in their twenties should fucking well _act_ like grown men in their twenties and not go gallivanting off to other worlds because their editor took a vacation.

"Bout time you got here, blondie. Just about gave it up for a lost cause." Axel greeted, pulling the door open before Roxas even had the chance to lift his hand to knock.

"Shut up." Roxas replied, shoving his way past the taller man. "What did you order for breakfast?" he asked, yawning as he made his way to the sofa.

"Eggs over easy, but I told them to cook them longer. I know you have a fear of runny yolks." Axel teased, smirk on his face.

"Sue me for not wanting salmonella. God only knows what you'd get up to if I were in the hospital for food poisoning." He sprawled on the couch. "Alright, if we're hashing out your story I need coffee." Axel chuckled, but handed the weary blond a full mug. "So, what's the problem?"

"The problem is this: I was struck by inspiration for the ending before I had managed to figure out _how_ the story was going to get there. I'm trying to write this story backwards, and it's not working." Roxas took a long sip of coffee, trying to get his brain to catch up to the pace that Axel obviously wanted to move at.

"Uh, right. Where did you leave off and where did you start the ending from?" By late afternoon the two men had managed to hash out the ending to The Looking Glass Wars and Axel was immensely pleased with himself for managing to finish a book ahead of deadline. Roxas would have been amused by Axel's child-like delight, but he was passed out on the couch and not even a freak hurricane would have enticed him to move. When he finally woke around six o'clock that night, a sticky note was on the table and the red-head was nowhere to be found.

_Roxas, out for a walk. Feel free to stay for dinner. I want to talk to you about a new idea for a book. I'm thinking, since we have other worlds we can travel to, what if in some alternate universe the people didn't know about other worlds? And them some day, something happened and a group of them were thrown out into the universe and they had to like, go from world to world to save it? Can you get me information on our worlds and how people travel back and forth?_

Roxas huffed in amusement. Leave it to Axel to wait until the last minute to finish his book, but once it was over he was already on to the next thing. The blond liberated a pen from between the cushions of the couch and left his own note.

_Axel, sleeping in the guest bedroom. The new idea sounds intriguing but wake me up to hash out the details and DIE._

Confident that he would be ignored, Roxas shuffled his way to the guest bedroom and decided to catch as much sleep as he could before Axel was off on another adrenaline fueled writing spree.

~Review~


	2. Chapter 2

Roxas woke up around ten o'clock in the evening. Disoriented by waking in a bed that was not his, it was only by hearing Axel muttering to himself in the living room that Roxas remembered where he was and why. Still brushing the wrinkles out of his shirt he meandered out to face the boundless energy of his writer. So it came was a bit of an unwelcome shock to find the red-head sitting perfectly motionless on the ridiculously plush couch with his cell phone clasped between his trembling hands. Roxas paused in the doorway, feeling like an intruder in Axel's grief. He moved to pull back, but the slight movement caught the other man's eye.

"Hey," he greeted, a trembling smile on his face. "That was the family attorney. My father's died." He paused as if just realizing what he said. "I'll, uh, I'll need to pack, let Xemnas know. I need...do you know what it costs to get to the World that Never Was?"

"I'll make the travel plans. Do you want a first class ticket?" Axel peered at him in shock.

"You aren't coming?" Roxas blink was the only show of surprise he gave.

"You want me to?" he asked. He didn't mind, but even after five years of working with the eccentric author the blond was still trying to figure out what his role as Axel's editor required of him.

"Of _course_ I want you to come!" Axel stated - clearly exasperated. "You cannot tell me that you're cold hearted enough to leave me at the mercy of my brother. I'll never survive!" Roxas ignored the other man's exaggeration, focusing instead on procuring two tickets.

"Why do we have to go to the World that Never Was?" he asked, fingers flying over the keyboard of the laptop he had liberated from the pyromaniac. The little light that had come into Axel's eyes while he had teased Roxas extinguished.

"It's the family estate," he muttered darkly, turning to stare morosely out the window.

"You _own_ the World that Never Was?" he asked incredulously.

"No, my _father_ owns...owned...it. He was going to leave it to both of us but...well, I doubt he did." Roxas opened his mouth to ask what the other man meant but Axel cut him off. "Are we good for the tickets, because we still need to pack and call Xemnas."

"I charged the tickets to your account. I'll call Xemnas on the way to my apartment.

"We'll probably be there a week," Axel stated, still not turning around. "Be sure to pack at least three suits." Roxas stared at the red-head's back, at how straight he was standing. He suddenly felt like Axel was further away from him than he'd ever been before.

"Axel..." he began, but stopped. What was he going to do? Ask him to come back? He was right bloody _there_. Reassure him? In the five years he'd worked with Axel he'd never mentioned any of his family besides his mother - and she was already dead.

"Don't." Axel ordered, voice soft but demanding. "I didn't even like the bastard." Roxas got nothing further and Axel still hadn't left his position by the window, so the blond stood and headed for the door.

"I'll be back later."

* * *

The first time Roxas heard anything about Axel's family was also the first time Axel had called him when drunk. Roxas had not yet been assigned as Axel's keeper, so he was less than enthused when he was woken up at two in the morning by a drunken Axel asking if Roxas could pick him up from the bar. The blond had slammed the phone down, fully intending to leave the other man hanging and go back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later a _very_ irritable Roxas was hauling a _very_ drunk Axel out of the bar.

"Want to tell me what you went and got this pissed for?"

"It's the anniversary," Axel had sighed. "Four years since my mother died." Roxas had _really_ wanted to stay angry at the other man, but when he thought of how he felt when his own mother had been ill...

"I'm sorry." Axel had grunted in response, leaning over and sticking his head between his knees. His left hand inched over and grabbed Roxas' right forearm.

"I'm holding on until the car stops moving."

"You _do_ know you only live five blocks away. You could have called a cab." Roxas informed him, more for the sake of taking Axel's mind off the moving car. He really didn't want the red-head puking in his car.

"I forgot."

"You remembered _my_ cell number, but forgot _your own address?"_

"I only memorize the important things," he had told the blond. Roxas, not knowing whether he should be flattered or creeped out, had dropped the conversation in favoring of getting the drunk man into his loft.

Neither of them had mentioned that night again and Roxas was thankful that they had never had a repeat. While Axel would inevitably be cranky and refuse to work on that day, Roxas had never seen him drunk off his ass again. He counted it as a minor success.

* * *

With Xemnas informed of the new development and his own bag packed, Roxas returned to Axel's loft and waited for the red-head to answer.

"Remind me to give you a key," he said absentmindedly as he grabbed his own suitcase from the front hall. Roxas made to protest, but the pyromaniac was already out the door. Roxas joined him by the elevator, taking in his jittery movements and wild eyes.

"Hey," Roxas stated, placing a comforting hand on his bicep. "We can leave as soon as they read the will." Axel gave him a thin smile.

"I'm afraid my family is a bit more complicated than that."

* * *

Roxas had never really left Twilight Town. He had stayed on Hollow Bastion to attend university and occasionally - when he felt confident he could leave without Axel taking it as abandonment - he would visit Destiny Islands and spend two or three days catching up with Sora. But aside from that, the universe was virtually unknown to him. So as their ship took off at 11:45 that night, Roxas peered intently out the window. He was a little disappointed that they couldn't pass any closer to the other worlds without being pulled into their orbit.

"Don't worry, we'll be visiting them all later." Roxas' head whipped around.

"What do you mean?" he inquired suspiciously. Axel looked up from the tablet he was scribbling notes onto and Roxas tried to ignore the way his heart clenched every time he saw the red-head in his glasses.

"Don't worry, it's for the book. I'll have to visit the worlds if I want to make it as accurate as I can. After we've finished the funeral business, we'll start at Destiny Islands." Struck by the technical way Axel spoke of his father's death, it took him a moment to register their next destination.

"Destiny Islands?"

"Yeah. Problem?"

"No. My brother lives there," Roxas stated, trying to make out what world they were passing now. Behind him, the sound of pen on paper ceased.

"I...didn't know that. You have a brother?" Roxas turned around and scowled.

"Well so do you," he stated defensively.

"Yes...yes, I supposed I do," Axel mused. Roxas peered at him from the corner of his eye. "But you get along with yours," he stated.

And you don't?" Axel smiled sadly.

"There's a reason I haven't been home since my mom died, Roxas." Anything Roxas might have said after that was lost as the ship began its descent.

The smaller man stepped off the ship with a gobsmacked expression on his face. While Axel looked less than enthused to be back home, the blond stared at the huge castle, trying to crane his neck back far enough so he could see the top of the tallest turret.

"So, the prodigal son returns." Roxas' head dropped down and he took in the man standing at the castle entrance. Although he was older than Axel and clearly took after a different parent (Roxas had never seen pictures, but he always assumed that Axel took after his mother) Roxas felt confident that this pink-haired man was Axel's brother.

"Why Marluxia, you're down right cheery. Did you happen to overthrow any governments today?" Marluxia sneered in response.

"I'm sure you can still find your old room. And your...guest," Roxas could only describe the look Marluxia fixed him with as 'hostile', "can stay across the hall from you." Axel sighed.

"Roxas, this asshole is my older brother, Marluxia. Marluxia, this is my _editor_, Roxas." The editor in question sent a quizzical look to the man standing next to him. Why the emphasis on 'editor'?

"Ah..." The hostile look on Marluxia's face abated. "You should rest well tonight. Axel, you'll be expected to help greet guests at nine tomorrow. You do still know how to tie a tie, don't you? Roxas, you're welcome to join." Without waiting to hear a response, Marluxia turned on his heel and disappeared into the labyrinth of the castle. Roxas followed behind a subdued Axel and wondered how heart-broken the red-head would be if he killed his brother.

* * *

At nine o'clock Roxas bumped into Axel as they exited their rooms at the same time. The blond moved to step back, but Axel enveloped him in a hug and Roxas froze, allowing Axel to take the comfort he needed but still too uncomfortable to return the gesture. Roxas was not used to physical contact with anyone outside his immediate family. The red-head released him, straightened Roxas' crooked tie and pulled down his own suit jacket. When the smaller man noted that Axel didn't have a tie, the red-head grinned.

"Payback for last night's comment."

By noon, Roxas was ready to murder _all_ of Axel's family. The undisguised hostility displayed toward Axel, and Roxas - at least until Axel explained that the blond was his _editor_, was wearing down on his patience and Roxas found the family's homophobia totally gauche. He was going to stage a protest. As Axel moved to greet his cousin, Roxas put his plan in motion.

"Axel, it's so sad that it took your father's death to bring you home," she stated, looking everywhere but at Axel. "And you are?" she asked, turning to Roxas.

"I'm Roxas," he stated, cutting Axel off and shaking the annoying cousin's hand. "I'm Axel's partner." He cast a quick sidways glance at Axels face to see if he had overstepped any boundaries but the taller man was trying not to laugh. As Roxas refocused his attention on the woman in front of him, he could see why. Her face had scrunched up in disbelief and she yanked her hand away - as if touching Roxas' skin had scalded her. She shot one more nasty look over her shoulder as she scurried away. "Well, that wasn't nice."

"Roxas..." Axel said slowly. "I think I'm in love with you. Could we do a repeat performance in front of my Aunt Mildred. I think if we finished it with a kiss we might actually kill her." Roxas heaved a put-upon sigh.

"I knew this day would come. Axel, for the last time, what you imagine in your head will not happen in real life. Your aunt will not drop dead if you kiss me."

"The only foolproof way to prove that is for me to kiss you in front of my aunt."

"I AM NOT LETTING YOU KISS ME IN FRONT OF YOUR FAMILY!" Roxas hissed.

"So you'll let me kiss you _away_ from my family?" And if flirting would get both of them through this experience without adding to the body count, well...

* * *

Roxas couldn't even begin to remember when the flirting began. He knows it started after Axel told him about his mother, after Axel became Roxas' _only_ job. He _thinks_ they managed to write Axel's second novel with _some_ semblance of professional decorum, but Roxas _knows_ that it was long gone by the third.

He had been editing the beginning of the book while Axel was passed out on the couch after a late night writing spree. He had come across one of those passages that made a reader laugh out loud - the type many writers strive for and rarely hit. Roxas, not wanting to wake the sleeping writer, had bit his lip and let an honest smile cross his face.

"You should smile more. It suits you." Axel stated sleepily.

"I'd smile more if you'd quit trying to blow your deadlines." Roxas told him, making another mark in the margins.

"Not my deadlines I want to blow," Axel retorted, settling his glasses on his face. And so they had continued on, innuendo being snuck in whenever deemed appropriate - almost always on Axel's side. At least until the day Axel had made Roxas so angry he had pushed professional conduct over the cliff and cursed out a shocked Axel.

"Cursing, Roxas? How very un-gentleman like," Axel had stated when Roxas had finished.

"Yeah? Well so's a blowjob, but you seem rather adamant on that subject!" Roxas retorted before storming out, slamming the door behind him.

He was back at nine the next day, neither one of them mentioning what had taken place the day before. But their interactions - for better or for worse - had been irrevocably changed from professional business associates to bickering like an old married couple.

* * *

By the final day, Roxas was already packed and eager to get the hell out of the castle before he committed mass murder. Ever so slowly he had collected the missing pieces of what had happened between Axel, Marluxia and their father. Marluxia had taken after their father - cold and calculating with little regard to anything except the end product. How the end product was achieved was a completely moot subject. Axel had taken after their mother.

"She used to love to read," Axel said, staring at her photo. They had been hiding from the rest of the relatives and Axel had slipped both of them into his old study. "She would daydream about castles in the air, gritty characters with hearts of gold, innocent kids setting off on adventures and coming home tainted by real life. When my dad married her, he built this castle thinking he was giving her everything she ever wanted. He didn't realize that some dreams aren't met to be obtained." He paused, letting a wry smile twist his lips before continuing. "He always hoped for kids to take after him. Marluxia did."

"He's in the government?" Roxas asked.

"In this section of the universe, he _is_ the government. Father always hoped I'd do something in the sciences; make an important breakthrough and solve the world's problems. Something that would immortalize me in books."

"Isn't that what you're doing now?" Roxas asked dryly.

"I'm glad you see it that way. Father saw it as me frittering my life away and Marluxia thought it was just youthful rebellion. Mom was the only one who ever really encouraged me. When she died...I haven't been home since."

"Seems kind of silly to stop seeing your kid because they don't want to follow the career you chose for them." Roxas stated.

"Yeah, well, they also disagreed with me being gay." Axel stated dryly, moving away from his mother's picture.

"Seems kind of silly to stop seeing your kid over something they can't change," he had retorted. Axel laughed, the first honest laugh Roxas had heard out of him since they had left to come to the World that Never Was.

"Yeah. I'm signing my half of the world over to Marluxia," he stated suddenly. Roxas raised an eyebrow, as if to ask _'What brought this on?'_ "I don't want anything to do with this place. It's not my home. It never was, really. What do you think?" Roxas paused, wondering whether this was the time or the place for subtlety. He decided to forgo it.

"I think this place could burn to the ground today and I'd be perfectly okay with that."

"Yeah, me too. Let me sign the papers and we'll get out of here."

~Review~


	3. Chapter 3

"Does Xemnas know you intend to go gallivanting around the worlds?" Roxas asked. He had just woken up from a short nap and he was looking out the window watching their ship prepare for its descent onto Destiny Islands. Axel paused in his ministrations of tapping his pen on his notepad and glanced at the blond before resuming his tapping again. Roxas sighed, correctly interpreting Axel's silence as a 'no' and pulled his PDA from his pocket, punching in a reminder to let his boss know that they were alive. As the ship docked and they prepared to unload another thought struck the blond. "Do you have any idea where we're going to stay?" Axel was cut off before he could respond.

"ROXAS! OVER HERE!" Axel watched, intrigued, as the blond whirled and a grin broke out across his face. Axel followed his line of sight and saw a group of three pushing their way through the crowd to greet them.

"Sora! Riku! Kairi!" Roxas shouted, waving an arm in greeting. The brown-haired boy broke through first and jumped on the blond. Axel watched in shock as the two men mock wrestled, both grinning and laughing like lunatics.

"Alright you two. Break it up before I wind up having to treat one or both of you for injuries," said the silver-haired man, wrapping an arm around the other man and pulling him off the blond.

"Hey Riku." Roxas greeted, grinning and fist-bumping the man. Axel watched in amusement as the blond disappeared beneath the auburn-haired girl.

"ROXAS! We haven't seen you in FOREVER!"

"Kairi, he needs to breathe," the brown-haired man told her, amused. The young woman reluctantly released the smaller man.

"Hey guys," Roxas greeted, laughing. "Axel, this is my brother, Sora, his boyfriend, Riku, and our friend, Kairi," he stated, pointing to each person in turn. "Guys, this is -"

"Trust us, Rox, we all know who Axel Lea is," Kairi interrupted, grinning shyly at the famous author. Axel grinned roguishly.

"Roxas likes to think he can keep me all to himself," Axel teased as their small group began walking. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Yes, the horror of having to share you keeps me up all night. I toss and turn," Roxas responded dryly.

"So where are you guys staying?" Sora interrupted. Noting the quick look between the two co-workers, Sora continued. "You can stay with me and Riku! We've only got the one guestroom, but it's a big bed and it's got an amazing view of the beach," he continued with unbridled enthusiasm. Axel tuned out the conversation, choosing to watch instead. He found it useful as a writer but it was difficult to manage. People often thought his staring was creepy. Today he was fortunate. The trio was too wrapped up in bringing Roxas up to date on all the changes to notice Axel watching them and after five years of exposure, Roxas was immune to the red-head's stare.

Sora and Riku were leading their group, walking close enough to each other that their hands often brushed. Sora often turned to talk to Roxas, who trailed a little behind his brother, but Riku remained quiet and watched Sora. Kairi trotted along next to Axel, occasionally interjecting with remarks of her own but mostly just walking in companionable silence. Axel didn't think he'd ever seen Roxas so relaxed.

"How long have you worked with Roxas?" Axel blinked, taking a moment to register the fact that the soft voice had come from the young woman next to him.

"Oh, uh, five years. How long have you known him?" Kairi smiled.

"All his life - so far. I'm in between Sora and Roxas. Sora was a year above me; Roxas was the year below me. I used to run all over this island with both of them and Riku. Riku was Sora's best friend. I was sooo in love with Sora! I thought my heart broke when he started dating Riku." She laughed and Axel felt himself smile.

"How long have they been dating?" he asked, curious.

"Now let's see...we were still in middle school and we had that freak storm..." At the look on Axel's face Kairi explained what had happened. "Riku and Sora had been playing on the beach when this freak tropical storm hit. The best we could figure out was that the magnetic energy of the storm opened a wormhole or something and sucked them to another world. What happened after that they never really said but they started dating when they got back. Let's see...they must have been about fourteen or fifteen."

"Wow," Axel stated, the opening of his new story already being outlined in his head. He'd need to know more about the layout of the islands - specifically the beach. "That would make for an interesting story." Kairi gave him a knowing grin and Axel laughed. "I get the hint. I don't suppose you could give me a tour of the island as well, since I seem to have lost my editor." Kairi laughed.

"Sure. We'll start first thing tomorrow. You can have tonight to get settled."

* * *

"Which side do you want?" Roxas asked, tossing his bag by the dresser. Axel took a cursory look around the room – the large sliding glass doors which opened onto the balcony, the mahogany dresser and nightstands, the king-sized bed centered on the far wall.

"Left," he responded, setting his own bag down by the left nightstand. "This could work out very well. If I have a sudden burst of inspiration I can just roll over and wake you up!"

"Wake me up for that and die," Roxas told him amiably. "Top or bottom drawer?" Axel waved a hand, indicating that he didn't care and Roxas began unpacking his clothing into the top drawer.

"So what _can_ I wake you up for?" Axel teased.

"You can wake me up if you win the Pulitzer." The red-head made a face and Roxas had to bite back a laugh. "Now behave for five minutes while I call Xemnas." Axel just rolled his eyes and disappeared into the bathroom as the blond dug out his phone and hit speed dial.

"Want to explain to me why my top writer and editor aren't in my office handing me the final draft for Axel's latest book?" Xemnas asked in lieu of a greeting. Roxas bit back a number of sarcastic responses – he really needed to get a life outside of Axel.

"I'm being kidnapped for an as yet unspecified amount of time to go planet hopping as research for Axel's new book."

"What? What new book?" The blond mentally sighed and filled his boss in on Axel's latest idea for a novel. "Fine." Xemnas stated after hearing his subordinate out. "Just get the clean draft of The Looking Glass Wars e-mailed to publishing tonight and enjoy your romantic get-away."

"It's a _business trip_."

"As long as you come back with a draft you can call it whatever you want." Xemnas told him before cruelly hanging up. Roxas groaned before throwing himself face first on the bed.

"If you're trying to suffocate yourself, you're doing it wrong." Axel stated, exiting the bathroom in low slung pajama pants while towel-drying his hair.

"Fuck off," Roxas told him, sliding off the bed and entering the bathroom himself. He showered quickly before changing into plaid pajama bottoms and a loose fitting Hollow Bastion University t-shirt. Exiting into the bedroom he found Axel sitting on his side of the bed, laptop balanced on his legs.

"Did you tell Kairi I was working on a new novel?" he asked, not looking up from his typing.

"I told Sora. He probably told her."

"She told me about what happened with your brother and Riku. Do you think they'd mind if I used it?" Roxas shrugged, grabbing Axel's bag and unpacking it in the lower dresser drawer.

"Ask them at dinner." Roxas paused, fingers absent-mindedly tapping out a staccato rhythm on the dresser. "It used to be the biggest point of contention between us." Axel paused in his typing, staring at the blond's back. "But then I realized that whatever happened during those months wasn't just Sora's story to tell. And if Riku didn't want to talk about it, then Sora wasn't going to talk about it either. I think that was when I realized they were in love."

"They never had a falling out?" Axel inquired. Roxas shook his head.

"Not that I know of. The only time they were apart was when Riku went to Hollow Bastion for medical school. Sora stayed and joined the police academy."

"And what about you?" Axel teased.

"_I_ celebrated having my own room."

"So unsociable," the red-head chided.

"I'm _not_ unsociable. I'm sociably selective and I _select_ not to be sociable with a lot of people." Roxas informed him, whacking him upside the head with a pillow. "And if you're going to be an ass about it, then I will grab my massive key-chain and key you."

"Now that's any idea..." Axel stated. His eyes glazed over as he began turning thoughts over in his mind. Roxas looked at him, waiting to hear what the pyromaniac would come up with. "A key as a weapon...but what kind of weapon?"

"Well, considering the fact I was threatening to stab you with keys I think it's safe to assume you could use it as a knife." Roxas responded dryly.

"No..." Axel shook his head, his brow furrowing as he thought. "Something bigger than a knife. A real weapon...a sword."

"A key-sword?" Roxas asked doubtfully. Axel sighed and slumped back against the headboard.

"It does sound ridiculous, doesn't it? And I thought we were onto something." Roxas stared thoughtfully out the window.

"A sword is nothing but a large knife. It just has a longer blade..." he said, half talking to himself. "A key...blade."

"That's it!" Axel cried, shooting up in the bed and nearly upsetting his laptop. "Roxas, you're a genius," he stated, grabbing the smaller man and kissing the top of his head before rescuing his precariously perched laptop and typing away. The blond stayed frozen for a moment, half shocked at the red-head's sudden outburst.

"Uh, I'll just...give Sora and Riku your excuses." Roxas told him, slipping off the bed and heading toward the door. "I'll make sure to ask about using the story Kairi told you as the opening for the book." The blond received no response other than the clacking of the laptop keys and he quietly shut the door behind him.

* * *

"This is amazing!" Axel stated, scrambling after the petite woman in front of him, the cool mist of the waterfall falling on him as they passed. Kairi had led him down to the seashore, pointing out all the old places where she and her friends had gone as children. They had climbed into the old tree-house and nosed around inside the old shack before Axel was led along the dock. Kairi had showed him the smaller island where they had all practiced their fighting when they were little.

"Riku used to beat us all up," Kairi laughed. "I think Sora was the only one who could ever really match him. Though I can't remember if Roxas ever actually fought him. He usually had his nose stuck in a book. Anyway, we all used to play down here, along with some other kids from the island. Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie. Wakka and Tidus are big blitzball stars. Selphie went on to become a pilot." Axel let Kairi continued to ramble. He wasn't really listening to her – he was poking around and trying to take everything in. He could picture his characters preparing a raft, ready to set out – trying to discover if there was anything beyond the edge of their world. "Come on, I'll show you the cove," she stated, tugging on the taller man's arm.

The cove was on the other side of the island. Kairi and Axel carefully walked over the bridge, being careful to mind the gaps.

"What's that?" Axel asked, pointing to an old building with stairs next to it.

"The old watch tower. It's pretty much useless now." She stated, taking shelter from the sun under the shade of the coconut trees.

"And where does that ramp go?"

"Back to a cave on the seashore side of the island. And down that way is a little secret cave. Want to see it?" Axel nodded and followed along as the energetic woman took off, eager to show off the beauty of the island she loved.

They had to stoop to get in, as the cave was obviously meant for small children but once inside there were hundreds of drawings covering the walls. In the center of the wall, two people framed a star-shape.

"I never _did_ find out who sketched that," Kairi said fondly, though a hint of sadness tinged her voice. The two people were Riku and Sora. Axel looked at the wistful smile on her face. Evidently, she still wasn't over her girlhood crush.

"What's it mean?"

"There's a legend on the island. It says that if two people share a paopu fruit, they'll remain a part of each other's lives forever. That's Riku and Sora, and the star between them is the paopu fruit. You've never had one?" Kairi asked, rousing herself from her melancholy mood. Axel shook his head 'no'. "Well, you'll probably be in luck today. I was informed when I picked you up that Riku and Sora were throwing a party today, so I'm sure you'll have the chance to try some!" She stated with a smile, leading the way out of the tiny cave. Axel blinked his eyes, trying to readjust to the sudden brightness of the day. "Come one!" Kairi called, laughing as she took off running. "Let's go back to town and see what the others are up to!"

_The others_, Axel thought, _were up to insanity_. At least that's what he could make of it. The house, which had been so peaceful when Kairi and Axel had left it, was in a state of turmoil. People milled about, laughing, socializing and stuffing their faces at the bar which had suddenly sprung up in the backyard. The crowd itself wasn't that large; Axel calculated that there couldn't be more than approximately thirty people walking around but...he didn't know any of them. Kairi had disappeared, off talking to an older man with orange hair who was introducing her to another woman with long black hair. Catching sight of unruly blond hair, Axel bee-lined toward the buffet table.

"So I disappear for part of a day and you throw a party. Roxas, I'm hurt." Axel stated, grabbing a cold beer out of a tub.

"Oh, you're back. And here I was hoping Kairi would push you out of the tree-house or the watch tower." Roxas stated dryly, crossing his arms as he leaned his back against a tree.

"Does your brother often throw spur of the moment parties, or just for us?"

"Yes, we have spur of the moment parties all the time. Now shut up and eat something; I know you didn't have breakfast before you left this morning." Axel smiled before glancing at the buffet table.

"What is all of this?"

"Well, I'm sure you recognize chicken wings when you see them. And I know you've seen a coconut before. And that's the island's specialty, paopu fruit." Axel made a thoughtful noise, picking up the fruit and taking a bite.

"Mm, this is pretty good. Want some?" he asked, holding out the rest of the fruit to the smaller man. Roxas flushed before narrowing his eyes and scowling at the other man. "You okay? You're not allergic or something, are you?"

"It's nothing," Roxas mumbled, grabbing the fruit out of Axel's hand. Turning around and leading the way to the house, the blond missed the small smile on the red-head's face.

* * *

"That was sneaky." Axel started as Sora sidled up to him. He was standing in the kitchen, looking out at the backyard where Roxas had been pulled into an impromptu conference with Riku. Axel could feel himself flush. "No, no, I approve." Sora reassured. "You two are good for each other."

"We're not actually..." Axel explained.

"No, but you're working on it." Sora smiled before turning and looking out the window. A small frown marred his features.

"Are you okay?"

"He's been acting funny all day," Sora answered, nodding in Riku's direction. The two watched as Roxas suddenly burst out laughing and began pushing the silver-haired man into the house.

"Well, I think we're about to find out why." Riku and Roxas slipped through the sliding doors and the small blond nudged the older man forward.

"Sora?" Riku asked softly. The brown-haired man turned and Riku got down on one knee. "Will you marry me?" he asked, pulling out the small jewelry box and flipping the top open. Axel silently moved away from the couple, situating himself next to Roxas.

"Riku...I...Yes!" Sora answered, laughing. Riku sighed in relief and stood, slipping the ring onto his fiance's finger. "Is this why you've been acting weird all day?" Riku just grinned.

"Talk about shock factor," Axel whispered. "I think your brother thought that Riku was getting ready to dump him."

"Nah, he was just terrified to ask." Roxas confessed. "He almost talked himself out of it." Axel tilted his head to the side, watching the two men.

"That could be us someday," he mused thoughtfully, leaning against the wall. Roxas snorted.

"Right."

"You wouldn't marry me?" Roxas jerked in surprise, his head whipping around to look at the writer.

"I didn't mean...I guess I just never...thought about it." Axel hummed.

"I've got notes I need to type up," he stated, pushing himself upright and heading for their room.

"Need some help?" Roxas asked, looking over his shoulder.

"Sure you don't want to celebrate with your brother?" Roxas shook his head and Axel stared at him for a moment before shrugging. "I could use the help." Roxas heaved a sigh.

"I keep telling you that, but you're so damn adamant that you don't need a psychiatrist." Axel rolled his eyes and Roxas grinned, following him back to the guest bedroom. Roxas paused at the threshold as the gravity of Axel's words sunk in. The red-head had pretty much told him that he would ask Roxas to marry him one day. The idea of that was a lot less scary than the blond thought would be. Taking in the sight of Axel typing away on his laptop - glasses perched on his face - Roxas realized that he would be totally fine with that.

A/N: Alright people, this is your chance for input. This story will go one of two ways. They can planet-hop or go back to Twilight Town. If you're all for the planet-hopping then leave me a review telling me which planet you want included!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: So I realized that I have been so out of touch with writing fanfiction until a month ago that I haven't been putting any disclaimers on my stories. So to make up for this error, I shall put it in all caps: I DON'T OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR POWER RANGERS. Now that this particular detail has been dealt with I shall address the fact that I do not own the House of Darkling either. People asked for planet-hopping - I give you the beginning of several chapters of planet-hopping. Enjoy

* * *

On any given day whenever Axel woke up he was always instantly aware of his surroundings. There was no slow movement from a half-sleep state - he was just instantly awake. So it was a bit of a shock for him when he had to fight just to open his eyes. He had a feeling his current state could be attributed to the warm body curled against his side. The red-head would almost say it was cute if he didn't think the blond would eviscerate him. Roxas shifted in his sleep and Axel winced at the pressure placed on his bladder, a certain pressing need (no pun intended) making itself known. Axel gently extracted himself and disappeared into the bathroom. As he re-entered the room he had to bite back a laugh at the sight that greeted him. Roxas had rolled over onto the warm spot left by Axel and had cocooned himself in the blankets. The peaceful scene was cut short as the alarm Axel had set the night before began chirping. A low groan emitted from beneath the mountain of blankets before a hand shot out, blindly groping for the alarm clock.

"Kill it!" Roxas ordered, trying to hit the snooze button without actually leaving his haven of warmth. When all the blond succeeded in doing was knocking the beeping alarm clock to the floor, Axel intervened on behalf of the poor clock.

"I bet your mother had a hell of a time trying to wake you up for school," Axel muttered, swooping down and picking the screeching alarm clock up.

"_Why_ do you even have an alarm clock set?" The blankets demanded.

"Because it's a _working_ holiday." Axel stated, switching the alarm clock off and replacing the clock on the nightstand. "No one said you had to get up but you _do_ have to give me my side of the bed back."

"You can have your side back after I get coffee," the blankets retorted. Knowing not to press his luck, Axel padded his way to the kitchen. When he got back to their room, the bundle of blankets had morphed into Roxas sitting in the middle of the bed, blankets pooled around his waist and blearily rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"Well, there's half of you at any rate," Axel greeted, leaning against the doorway.

"Bite me." Roxas responded and Axel grinned.

"Darling, you really should know better than to suggest something that I might consider as foreplay."

"Forgive me; I momentarily forgot who I was talking to. Now hand over the coffee before I inflict grievous bodily harm." Roxas responded dryly, rolling his eyes. Axel snorted but relinquished the coffee mug and Roxas sighed as he shifted back onto his side of the bed. "What's on the agenda today?" he asked, mouth stretching wide in a yawn.

"Well, I think between you and Kairi I've been dragged all over this island. I've already re-written the opening sequence of this book five different times so unless you absolutely object I think it's high time me move on to our next world."

"I absolutely object. In fact, I'm offended you would even suggest such a thing. You're a cruel, heartless man." Roxas stated, sipping his coffee. Axel rolled his eyes as he dug his suitcase out of the closet. He froze half-way through the act of putting it on the bed.

"Heartless…" he murmured. Roxas looked at him inquiringly but Axel paid him no mind, instead chewing thoughtfully on his bottom lip. After a few moments he shook his head and roused himself from his thoughts. "Come on, drink your coffee and get packed."

They had an early lunch with Riku and Sora before heading to the ship and Axel was pleasantly surprised to find himself included in the round of good-bye hugs and was informed that he was expected to be in attendance at Sora and Riku's wedding.

"Know where you're heading next?" Riku asked Axel. The four men were killing time before boarding the ship and Roxas and Sora were taking the opportunity to finish filling each other in on everything that had happened since they last saw each other. Riku and Axel had formed a brotherly attachment during the visit and Axel liked to joke that it was because the brothers often left them to their own devices while they caught up.

"Probably to Traverse Town," Axel stated. "Seems as good a place as any to start."

"Kairi gave me a message for you, since she was called in to work. She said, 'When you get to Traverse Town, look for the house of Darkling.' Supposedly there's something there that will make it easier to travel between worlds." Riku explained, shrugging in a way that clearly stated, _'I have no idea what goes on in that girl's head.'_ Axel shrugged as well and both men grinned.

"Alright, what are you two smiling about?" Sora demanded, finishing his conversation with Roxas and rejoining Axel and Riku's. Axel opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by an elbow to the ribs.

"Keep your inappropriate responses to yourself." Roxas told him, pretending like he hadn't just assaulted the taller man.

"Damn, shorty, watch where you stick those things." Axel grumbled, rubbing his side. Any further conversation was cut off by the pilot's call to board the ship. With last minute promises to visit more often their group disbanded and Axel and Roxas headed to Traverse Town.

* * *

The first thing that struck Roxas about this world was the lack of light. Roxas felt like he had stepped back in time. The streets of Traverse Town were made of cobblestone and the buildings were built in a Victorian style. The majority of the light came from lamp-posts but an occasional neon sign was thrown into the mix. _It was_, Roxas thought,_ an eclectic mix of old with new. _And it worked. It was only when Axel had checked them into the hotel that Roxas learned that the town had two more districts. They decided to dump their stuff in their room and tackle District One first.

Exiting the hotel, both men cast a look around District One. They were standing in a courtyard with houses to the front and right of them. To their left were stairs leading up to another section of the district. As neat and as pristine as the place was kept, Roxas couldn't help put feel that this place was a dismal one to live in full-time.

"Who would live here?" he asked, more to himself than to Axel. The red-head shrugged.

"It's affordable housing for a lot of people. If worlds ever _do_ get destroyed Traverse Town could very well become a safe haven for a lot of people." Axel paused as he realized what he said and he quickly scribbled down his thoughts in his battered notebook. Roxas opened his mouth to ask a question but changed his mind, trailing after the writer as he began to prowl the streets, sneaking into back alleyways in an effort to strip away the town's secrets.

"Axel, slow the fuck down! You're not batman!" the blond groused, quickly turning a corner and sprinting to catch up with his companion. Concentrating on matching Axel's longer stride, Roxas didn't notice when his companion stopped and he barreled into the taller man.

"Why, Roxas! I knew I could get you to pounce me one day," Axel teased. Roxas placed his hands on the red-head's chest and pushed himself up, glaring down at the pyromaniac from where he sat straddling Axel's lap.

"Axel, I'm in a perfect position to throttle you and I assure you, I will thoroughly enjoy it. Don't test me."

"Upsy-daisy, then," Axel responded, patting Roxas' side. "I promise I'm done stalking the streets; I just want to check out the shops." Roxas stood and moved to help the pyromaniac up but Axel rolled back onto his shoulders and pushed himself off the ground, landing on his feet. Roxas' eyes narrowed and he re-evaluated what he knew about the writer. He knew the red-head hadn't served in any type of military but the move he'd just displayed spoke of some sort of training. By the time Axel brushed off his clothes and turned back around to Roxas the blond had schooled his features back to his usual unimpressed face. "C'mon, I want to have a quick chat with the owner of the accessory shop."

The "quick chat" occupied the rest of their evening. It just so happened that the owner of the shop was a highly skilled engineer and pilot who had, amazingly enough, the patience to answer each and every question Axel posed to him. By the time Roxas had finally managed to drag a resisting Axel from the shop, night had set in and any more exploring had to be put off until tomorrow.

* * *

For as tired as he was, Roxas woke surprisingly early the next morning but Axel had still beaten him up. He took his time in the shower – letting the hot water massage away the aches in his legs from the day before. He silently swore that he'd kill Axel if he tried to run around like a crazy person again. He shut off the water and haphazardly dried himself before dressing and going in search of breakfast. He was halfway through his plate of French Toast when Axel mysteriously appeared in the chair across from him.

"Good, you're up. We need to book it through Districts Two and Three. I think I know where I can find the Darkling house Kairi was talking about." Axel stated, his hands rapping out an uneven rhythm on the table in his excitement.

"Axel, you try moving at the speed you were yesterday and my legs are going to fall off. And what about what?" Roxas scowled across the table at the red-head. He hadn't had his coffee yet and he really wanted to finish his breakfast. "Besides, I thought you were taking notes. How are you going to write things down if you're just barreling through?" Axel waved away Roxas' concerns.

"I've been out already. I took down the notes I needed and I've been talking to Cid."

"Cid?" Roxas asked, his annoyance at being left out replaced with a need to know who the hell Axel was talking about.

"The accessory shop owner. We talked to him yesterday." Axel responded, debating how much bodily injury he would sustain if he tried to steal a bite of the blond's breakfast.

"_You_ talked to him yesterday. And he never mentioned his name."

"Well, his name's Cid," Axel cheekily responded, snagging the last half-piece of Roxas' breakfast. The blond swatted his hand away, but let the taller man keep the piece of French Toast.

"So you decided to go back and bug him again today. That's nice of you."

"I needed to find out what he knew about the house of Darkling."

"The hell is that?" Roxas asked, procuring himself a cup of coffee before following Axel out of the hotel.

"It's the house Kairi told me about." Axel explained, sprinting up the stairs and taking the path to the left of Cid's accessory shop.

"You and Kairi seem to talk about an awful lot," Roxas muttered, a bit more loudly than he had intended to. Luckily, Axel was too busy talking himself.

"It's supposedly an in-between world, kind of like the World that Never Was. But the interesting thing about Darkling House is that it acts like a gateway to other worlds. It'll save us a hell of a lot of travel time if we can just use this place to move around instead of having to fly from world to world," Axel explained. Roxas just nodded his head. He wasn't really listening – instead he was trying to take in the sights he had apparently missed this morning.

They had passed through the gates into the District Two. This district was larger than District One, though the building style was still the same. The shops and houses were raised above street level and were all connected. The street itself was "L"-shaped, and Roxas almost felt tempted to walk down and investigate himself. He noted a boots and shoes store right next to a dress and suit shop with a giant head covered by an enormous green hat nailed above it. In front of them was a large white building with a clock tower which Roxas could only assume was the City Hall. Instead, he trailed into the alley after Axel. Noticing that he was falling behind, Roxas sped up and caught up to Axel right as he pushed opened the gates to District Three.

Roxas stood in the middle of District Three and watched as Axel began examining the area. Roxas himself had cast a cursory glance around, but aside from a ledge he couldn't get to there was nothing that really caught his attention. Axel was poking around some broken electrical conduit until he moved across the way. Roxas focused his attention on the red-head when Axel began preparations for a fire.

"What are you doing?!" the blond demanded, grabbing the writer's lighter.

"Relax, blondie," Axel drawled, plucking the lighter out of Roxas' hand with his index and middle finger. "It's not going to hurt anything. It's just a different way to unlock a door." He knelt down flicked the lighter, letting a small flame erupt. He held the lighter at the base of the door, only moving once the wood began to crackle. With a large burst of smoke, red streaks erupted throughout the door and it swung open with a loud 'click'.

"How did you know to do that?"

"I used to live here." Axel told him, pocketing his lighter without looking at the blond. He quickly walked through the door before Roxas could ask any questions and the blond had no choice but to follow him.

* * *

There was a majestic ancient oak tree, it's roots creating a massive cage. What was held within that cage was obscured by a massive patch of fog. Though it had been mid-day when Axel had unlocked the fire door, as the two men walked into the mist, the moon now hung low in the sky. Roxas felt oppressed by the forest and even Axel, who was leading the way, began casting furtive glances around. Roxas would have liked to ask the red-head if he knew where he was going, but he was afraid of the answer that he might receive. Just as Roxas was going to suggest turning back, the trees began to thin and they stepped into a small orchard though the type of fruit they were growing was unknown to the blond. He stepped forward and picked a low-hanging piece of fruit about the size and shape of a grapefruit, bringing it closer to examine. Before he could get a good look the fruit quivered and twisted, arms, legs and head wrenching themselves free. Roxas gave a shout of disgust and dropped the thing on the ground. As the blond backed away the thing flipped itself onto its stomach, shuffling itself around like a turtle on speed. Roxas eyed it warily; it smiled at him, showing thin, sharp teeth. The young man took a step back but before he could do anything else Axel appeared and grabbed his wrist, pulling the smaller man around the creature and toward the house. They passed through a formidable, ornate iron gate which was twined with ivy and Roxas tugged himself free – both to catch his breath and to take in the sight.

A circular driveway framed a fountain unlike anything either man had ever seen. Metal rods protruded out of a dark hole in the earth, all of them different heights, while pale blue swaths of liquid light bounced from one pole to another, cascading back into the black pit in a shower of electric sparks. Beyond the fountain were the massive double-doors which would allow them entrance to the House of Darkling.

"We're going in _there_?" Roxas asked, unenthused.

"Come on, Roxas, where's your sense of adventure?" Axel asked, not moving himself.

"I think I left it with my sense of self-preservation." Roxas retorted but he grabbed Axel's hand and allowed himself to be led into house.

~Review~


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Holy crap guys, this one is a long one. Welcome to Wonderland.

* * *

Roxas wasn't sure what to expect out of a house called Darkling, but what he found certainly wasn't it. The doors to the mansion swung open with ease and the two men stepped into the rounded foyer, which was empty save for the grand staircase that spiraled away into the distance. The tile beneath their feet glittered and Roxas felt like he was suspended in some kind of limbo. The thought made him woozy and his hand tightened on Axel's, Axel squeezing back to reassure the blond.

The tiles nearest to the walls were made of stone, the spiral after that of rough marble, and then glazed ceramic. At the center of the display was a mosaic made from shards of metal and glass, the color of which shifted in the different levels of light. As Axel led them through the room it changed around them. Stepping from the stone tiles to the marble, the wood paneling of the walls began to glow revealing intricate etchings that seemed to tell a single story and encompassed the entire wall of the foyer. The chandelier that hung in the empty space above the room began to bloom with liquid flame, light erupting out of it like stars to illuminate the corners of the space where curios and antique end tables held glittering, unknowable things: pools of water that rippled in place but did not drip to the floor, a portrait of a crying woman who's tears smeared the paint, a single opal pin containing an entire galaxy visible to the naked eye. But what drew their attention was the light emitting from the floor and they both stopped to stare at it.

The floor was blazing with a radiant fire, pulsing in time to the silent song of the universe, throbbing with life and energy, searing not the eyes but something secret in the soul. A warm feeling settled into their chests and Roxas thought he could die happy in that moment. Realizing that they could easily spend the rest of eternity staring at the floor, Roxas pushed them onto the band of ceramic tile and the room dimmed around them.

The liquid flame of the chandelier became drawn out and stretched away from where it hung in space. The effect it caused was miraculous, the crystals of the chandelier translating the light into a living world of color that shimmered and danced like the northern lights. The inner light of the walls gave way to delicate, incandescent fractures in the wood, smoldering and cracking like the embers of a dying fire. The curios and end tables held different objects in this version of the room: a small silver harp with lines of thin shadow instead of strings, theater masks that shuddered under the weight of their emotions, a thin string of ink which twisted itself into a face and peered out at the two men. The mosaic on the floor withdrew into itself, the vibrancy muted in a faint red sunset flicked with blue and gold that inspired a feeling of melancholy.

Crossing over the center of the room, the pieces of glass and metal in the mosaic flared with a pale cool light that cast all else into shadow and reflected off every surface like a million different stars. Roxas and Axel were lost in their own private universe, a singular nocturne that would not end as long as they stayed in the circle at the center of the entryway. But Axel fought his way out of his dream and they passed into dusk, into dawn and back into the true emptiness of the place.

"I don't like this," Roxas whispered, reluctant to break the absolute silence of the house.

"I can take care of us if anything happens." Axel assured him, leading the blond down a tall, mirrored hallway with flickering gaslights, past oval windows covered in silver latticework and a collection of heavy oak doors. The door at the end stood open, a curved wall of coarse stone panels visible beyond the threshold. Axel led them inside.

"Oh…visitors." An elderly gentleman in a neat suit rose from a plush green leather couch at the center of a magnificent library. The room was entirely round and four stories tall, with each subsequent ring of bookshelves smaller than the one beneath it, leading up to a domed glass ceiling, beyond which the moon hung ominously between the clouds. An ornamented footbridge led from the fourth level to a closed door. Axel paused inside the doorway, subtly pulling Roxas behind him in case of attack. But the elderly gentleman merely bowed and stated, "Welcome to the House of Darkling. My name is Duncan."

"What is this place?" Roxas asked, peering around Axel's shoulder.

"Darkling is one of the properties of The Ending. The Ending is a place for Things Above Death," Duncan answered.

"The Things Above Death?" Axel asked, relaxing slightly as he realized Duncan wasn't a threat.

"You could say that this world holds both your Gods and your Nightmares. Nothing in this world can die; not as long as long as humans exist."

"Ever?" Roxas asked, slightly uneasy at being one of two mortal things on this world. Duncan smiled wistfully, his eyes focusing on something only he could see.

"Death came to The Ending only once, and that was a long time ago. Now, how can I help you gentlemen?"

"We're here for research," Axel explained as Roxas moved out into the open. "My name is Axel Lea and I'm a writer. Roxas is my editor." He gestured to where the blond was reaching for a book entitled 'The Night Circus'.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Duncan warned. Roxas looked at the old man quizzically but withdrew his hand, leaving the book on its shelf. "Darkling is a very different type of house," Duncan explained. "These books don't tell a story. They take you to a whole new world and let you experience your own story."

"Really?" Axel asked excitedly. "That's exactly what we want."

"Then you've come to the right place. I will ask Mr. Whatley for permission to use his books and pictures. I suggest you wait here. The master is still a bit…sore…when it comes to humans."

"Why?" Axel asked casually moving to stand next to Roxas again. Duncan smiled.

"It was a human who bested him at his own game and brought death to The Ending." Duncan bowed again and left Axel and Roxas in the library as he began climbing the steps. Reaching the fourth floor, he crossed the footbridge and disappeared behind the door.

Axel and Roxas stood in an awkward silence for a moment before the smaller man moved to sit on the couch.

"So where did you learn to fight?" Roxas asked, moving over as Axel sprawled next to him.

"Who says I can fight?" Axel questioned and Roxas snorted.

"Well then how exactly were you planning on keeping us safe? By soliloquizing at them?" the blond asked sarcastically. Axel grinned but sighed after Roxas shot him a look of warning.

"I learned to fight in Tortooga. From the pirates."

"Pirates? There are still pirates today?" Roxas asked incredulously. "How did you even come across pirates?" Axel gave him a bemused look.

"Did you never wonder what I did in the four years between my mother's death and when I showed up in Twilight Town with the completed first draft of a novel?" Roxas opened his mouth, closed his mouth, and opened it again.

"I thought you just lived in Twilight Town," he confessed.

"True, I didn't take into account that you had just returned from college. It would be natural to assume I moved there while you were in Hollow Bastion. But no, when my mother passed I took my inheritance and ran."

"So, what, you traveled until you just suddenly decided, 'Hey, I think I'll write a book today!' is that it?" Roxas asked drily.

"Something like that, but not quite. It was…a bit more complicated than that." There was a twinge of sadness in Axel's voice that caught Roxas' attention.

"Axel?" He looked at the taller man, his eyes asking the questions that his mouth couldn't form.

"I joined an organization," Axel continued. "We all believed in the cause but…that doesn't always justify everything." He shook his head and smiled wryly at the blond. "I could deal with my actions; I've got no regrets over anything I did. But I left the organization. Shortly after I left they were disbanded." He shrugged. Roxas wanted to ask what it was that Axel had done for the organization but he had a feeling that now wasn't the time to ask questions. Now was the time for comfort and reassurance and Roxas gave it the best way he knew how. He shifted on the couch until he was sitting next to the red-head, their thighs pressed together, and gently nudged the pyromaniac. Axel looked at him inquisitively but otherwise didn't respond. Roxas nudged him again - harder - and Axel looked at him with a mixture or exasperation and amusement on his face. Roxas shoved him, pushing him off the couch. "Roxas!" Axel shouted, looking up indignantly from where he had landed on the floor. Roxas stretched out along the couch, peering over the side of the couch while hiding his smile in the cushions.

"Yes?" he asked innocently. Axel narrowed his eyes as he stood up and brushed himself off.

"So _that's_ how you want to play?" Axel asked and proceeded to launch himself at the blond. Roxas laughed and the two continued wrestling - oblivious to the sound of footsteps on the stairs.

"Oh, I hope I'm not interrupting something." Duncan stated, pausing on the final stair. Roxas looked at the servant from his spot - pinned between the couch and Axel.

"Duncan," the blond greeted, acting as if being pinned underneath the writer was an everyday occurrence. "Did Mr. Whatley give us permission to use his things?"

"Yes," Duncan stated, moving to stand by one of the many bookshelves. "If you'll follow me I'll show you how to use the books and paintings." The two young men untangled themselves from the couch and joined the man by the books. "The books are simple enough," he informed them, grabbing a book from the shelf. "You merely have to open the book and it will take you to the beginning of the story. The paintings are a bit more complex," Duncan continued, replacing the book and leading his visitors to the fourth floor and across the footbridge. "You step into the painting and you find yourself in the area you were previously looking at. You have to search for the start of your story." Duncan turned and unlocked the door. "This is Mr. Whatley's private picture collection. Or what he's managed to replace of it," he stated, an impish smirk playing on his lips. "You may use any of these pictures and any of the books."

"How do we get back?" Roxas asked, turning away from a picture of a rabbit hole. Duncan smiled.

"You're perceptive," he told the blond. The servant reached into his pocket and brought forth a skeleton key. "Use this in any door and it will bring you back to Darkling."

"This is quite the cabinet of curiosities," Axel stated, taking the key.

"But in a cabinet of curiosities, things stay in place. Here in the House of Darkling, everything is constantly shifting to provide you with the things you most want." Duncan replied before bowing and exiting back into the library. Axel fingered the key before placing it in his pocket and turning to face the blond.

"So, I take it we're going down the rabbit hole?"

* * *

The only way Roxas could accurately describe entering the rabbit hole was to say that they 'floated' down. But that was only the beginning of the strangeness. No sooner had their feet touched solid ground than a white rabbit went scampering past them dressed in gray slacks, an orange dress shirt and a red jacket with a dark red bow-tie. He clutched a pocket watch in his hand and as he glanced at it he panicked, muttering to himself, "I'm late! The queen will have my head for sure," before taking off. Silence reigned.

"You saw that, too, right?" Axel asked.

"Yep," Roxas answered. "Feel better knowing that?"

"Not really." They both moved forward and found a doorway set into the earth. Grasping the handle, Roxas pulled the doorway open and both men peered inside. Beyond the doorway was a sparsely furnished room with a pink and red tiled floor. The room had a fireplace and a clock and a bed against one wall. Roxas and Axel just caught sight of the rabbit in time to see him disappear from sight.

"Where the hell did he go?" Roxas demanded, leaving the darkness of the hole and entering the bizarre room. He didn't get far before laughter caused him to turn around. Axel was doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed hysterically. "_What_ are you laughing at?" he demanded, annoyed.

"Tail," Axel gasped out. "Ears."

"_What_?" Roxas asked, confused. Axel controlled his laughter long enough to answer.

"You've got a tail and ears," he stated, wiping away the tears in his eyes before moving into the room. "Your outfit has changed, too." At the funny look on Roxas' face he stopped. "What?" he asked warily. Roxas looked down at his outfit before responding. He was in tan slacks and a red dress shirt with a red suit jacket. A blue collar and orange tie finished his ensemble.

"You've got a hat. A really large hat. On your head." Roxas stated. "Your outfit has changed as well." Axel lifted his hand and felt the top of his head. His fingers brushed against the softness of felt. As his hand explored along the rim of the hat, a cool strip of ribbon touched his skin. Roxas tilted his head sideways. "It's green. It looks kind of funny with your hair color. I wonder what the 10/6 card is for..." Axel didn't hear the blond as he inspected his new outfit. He was in green pants with a blue shirt and a tweed brown jacket. His collar was white and a light blue bow-tie topped it off.

"Aren't we supposed to be following the white rabbit?" Axel asked with a sigh. Roxas grinned and they crossed the room, inspecting the wall to see where the rabbit might have gone.

"Hello, there!" The men paused in their investigation.

"Did you - ?" Roxas asked, but Axel shook his head 'no'.

"Down here!" The voice called again, and both men looked down at the small door in the wall. "Trying to follow the white rabbit?"

"The doorknob is talking." Axel stated.

"How did he get through the door?" Roxas asked, ignoring the redundancy of Axel's statement.

"To get through the door, you must drink the potion." The Doorknob informed them.

"What potion?" Roxas asked. Axel tugged on his jacket sleeve, pointing to the middle of the room where a table and a chair had appeared along with two bottles of liquid. Roxas advanced toward the table, picking up the blue bottle while Axel shoved the bed against the wall. "Why did you do that?" Roxas asked, looking up from his examination of the liquid. Axel shrugged and joined the blond by the table.

"Think it's okay to drink?" Axel asked.

"Well...it's just a drink." Roxas responded, uncorking the bottle and taking a sip. Axel took the bottle from his hands and took a sip for himself. "I don't feel any different, do you?" the blond asked, looking at his companion.

"Not really. But then again, the table is now towering above us." Axel stated drily. Roxas followed his gaze and found himself looking at the underside of the table.

"Are you sure that Duncan didn't just slip us both acid? Cause this is just a little bit ridiculous."

"Come on," Axel stated, rolling his eyes. He led the way across the now gigantic room and they passed through the doorway next to the slumbering Doorknob.

On the other side of the doorway was a giant courtyard with gigantic hedges. Directly in front of them was a hedge entrance shaped as a heart and beyond it was another courtyard where a trial was proceeding. A large rectangular rug had been laid out on the grass, and a card was testifying in a small stand. Directly in front of the stand was an even larger structure, where a woman was sitting lording over the trial. She was a larger woman, with her black hair piled into a bun on top of her head, which was topped with a crown. She was the judge of the trial and queen of this world.

"FIND THE OFFENDER!" she screamed. "I WANT THIS PERSON FOUND AND THEN...OFF WITH THEIR HEAD!" Catching sight of the two new people in her courtyard, she pointed her heart-shaped scepter at them. "CATCH THEM! CATCH THE VILLAINS!"

"Aren't we supposed to be following the white rabbit?" Roxas mocked sarcastically as both he and Axel were seized by spear-wielding cards.

"You're the one who chose the rabbit hole." Axel muttered as they were marched up a string of steps to stand on a platform in front of the queen.

"Can you tell me," the queen began sweetly, "why you...STOLE MY TARTS!" she screamed, her face become red with anger.

"Your Majesty," Roxas stated, giving a short bow. "We've only just arrived in your world. We wouldn't have had time to steal your tarts."

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" she cried, but a small, nervous-looking man next to her motioned the guards back.

"Now, dear," he stated in a tiny voice. "Remember your temper. Give them a chance to prove their innocence." The queen paused in her rampaging, taking a moment to consider her husband's words.

"Axel, I swear to God, if you get me beheaded I will haunt the fuck out of you," Roxas whispered.

"I have decided," the queen began, her voice sickeningly sweet again. "To provide you with the chance to prove your innocence. CHESHIRE!"

"You bellowed, your majesty?" A disembodied voice asked. A grin appeared in mid-air and was quickly placed on the floating head of a purple cat. A striped body soon connected to the head, followed by a bushy tail.

"Cheshire, you are to keep these two company at all times. They are going to attempt to prove their innocence by finding 'clues' throughout Wonderland. There aren't any, of course, because they are guilty, but the king feels that by offering this Hatter and Hare the chance to prove their innocence, I will come off as a benevolent queen and my subjects will love me even more." Axel and Roxas exchanged glances. 'Hatter and Hare?' Roxas mouthed. Axel merely shook his head and shrugged.

"Your Queen is all kindness." Cheshire responded drily, floating over to where the two captives stood surrounded by armored cards. "I believe I am meant to escort you," he stated as the guards withdrew their spears. "Shall we begin?" he asked, floating his way toward the back of the court. Axel and Roxas quickly scrambled after him, taking a sharp left and entering a dark forest.

"What is this place?" Roxas asked, looking around and Axel noted with some amusement that his ears twitched in agitation. Though the blond could normally control his actions, the new appendages were beyond his scope. "And what is that noise?"

"This forest has many names," Cheshire responded, his head rolling upside down before continuing until it was re-attached to his neck. "Some call it the Forest of Mystery; some call it Lotus Forest. As for that noise you're hearing, you may thank your newly acquired appendages for your increased hearing." Roxas sighed in annoyance, reaching up and tugging on one of the ears.

"What world are we in?" Axel asked.

"Didn't you hear Her Majesty's shouting? Wonderland," the cat responded, floating in an arc through the forest.

"Yeah? What's so wonderful about it?" the blond asked irritably as Axel scribbled down the name of the world and his impressions of it.

"I believe I found something." Cheshire stated serenely, ignoring the smaller man. Roxas and Axel joined Cheshire on the right side of the forest where the indentations of footprints were visible in the dirt. "Stay here," the cat ordered. "I'll just pop back and tell them to send a few guards to secure the evidence, shall I?" Without waiting for response the cat disappeared, leaving the two men alone in the forest.

"Are they bothering you that much?" Axel asked softly, his hand coming up and rubbing one of the hare ears. The appendage twitched at his touch but Roxas stayed where he was.

"It's getting better," he stated. "It's just a lot of ambient noise. It's not so bad when I can ignore it." Both boys jerked as Cheshire popped back in.

"The king has ordered guards to secure this area. Shall we continue?" The trio broke up and began examining the forest. Roxas clambered on top of a mushroom before jumping to the one next to it. Standing on the second mushroom, he caught sight of a tree he could climb.

"Blondie, what are you doing?" Axel shouted. Roxas ignored him and continued climbing the tree. "Roxas! What am I going to tell your brother and Riku if you fall and kill yourself?!"

"I'm fine!" Roxas shouted, pulling himself up to the top of the tree. "There's a door here! I'm going to go through and see what I can find!"

"Take Cheshire with you! I don't want that crazy queen telling us we planted evidence!" Axel shouted, and Cheshire popped up next to the blond before Roxas could respond.

"You've _got_ to stop doing that," Roxas told the cat before whirling around and passing through the door. Entering the room, Roxas and Cheshire fell onto the stove of the bizarre room. "Ugh, what is that smell?" Roxas asked, bringing his hands up to cover his mouth and nose.

"That is the smell of the loveliest rose," Cheshire answered, his ever present grin widening. He disappeared before Roxas could ask what he meant. "The guards are coming," he stated, popping back in and Roxas clambered down to the floor and re-entered the queen's court. He turned to the right, leaving Cheshire floating in the court and going back to find Axel. He quickly found himself enveloped in a hug.

"Don't do that again," Axel ordered, arms tightening around the blond. Roxas didn't respond with a 'yes' or a 'no', merely led the taller man back to the court. Cheshire flicked his tail and led them directly across the courtyard.

"The very back of the forest is this way," he told them. Entering the clearing there was nothing the men could immediately see aside from a set of three mushrooms. Peering around in the dim light, Roxas could barely make out platforms. He tapped the red-head on the shoulder and pointed them out. Axel climbed onto the smallest mushroom – in the middle – before climbing on to the mushroom to the right. Noticing one of the platforms that Roxas had pointed out, he leaped. Stumbling on his landing he fell to his knees but as he braced his hands on the ground his fingers brushed a small scrap of cloth.

"Cheshire!" he shouted. The flicking tail of the cat appeared and Axel held up the scrap. "You want to take this to the guards?" The red-head climbed down onto the ground and joined Roxas, who was poking around a yellow flower by the entrance. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Look." Roxas stated, pointing above him. "There's a platform up there, but it isn't raised."

"Maybe Cheshire knows how to activate it."

"I do, but I cannot do it."

"Jesus, Cheshire! Stop _doing_ that!" Axel stated, jumping. "So how do we get up there?" he demanded. Cheshire floated over to the set of mushrooms, hovering over the one on the far left.

"One side makes you grow, the other side makes you shrink," he stated cryptically. The two men joined the cat by the fungus.

"But which is which?" Roxas asked.

"Only one way to find out for sure." The cat stated, grin widening. Axel sighed and broke off a piece of mushroom.

"I'll go first," he stated, nibbling.

"Put it down!" Roxas shouted, realizing that the pyromaniac was shrinking. Axel dropped what was left of his mushroom. Roxas peeled a piece of mushroom from his side, giving some to the red-head and eating a bite himself. Shooting up to his regular size, he froze – not wanting to squish the writer. Axel climbed back up onto the middle mushroom.

"Now what?" Axel shouted. The Cheshire cat disappeared, re-appearing a short distance away on an old tree stump. Roxas followed the purple cat and stepped onto the stump. The overhead platform raised and Axel climbed down from his perch to climb the two mushrooms near the entryway. He jumped from the mushrooms to the platforms overhead and followed them around to a doorway with Cheshire trailing behind him. This time, the two comrades landed onto the faucet of the bizarre room. Axel scanned the room, noticing a shelf to the right. He jumped and grabbed the edge. Pulling himself up onto the shelf, he found a scepter which he handed over to the cat before picking out a path back to the floor. He exited the room and a re-shrunken Roxas met him in the courtyard.

"FINALLY!" the queen shouted as they re-entered her court. "Present all your evidence and I shall present mine!" she stated. "You may then choose one of the five boxes. If you choose your evidence, then you shall be found innocent. But if you choose mine, then OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!"

"Does that make sense to you?" Axel asked the blond.

"Not really, but then again nothing in this world makes much sense to me."

"QUIT STALLING!" the queen shouted and Roxas turned and pointed to the box closest to himself. One of the queen's guards opened the box, revealing a heart-shaped scepter. "OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" she shouted. "TREASON AGAINST THE QUEEN!"

"Now, dear..." the king stammered, but the queen was having none of his interference this time. Roxas' eyes narrowed as he watched the queen intently.

"Your Majesty," he began quietly and his tone of voice cut the queen off mid-rant. "I would hate to cross anything you might say, but if I could have a mirror, I think I could clear up this misunderstanding."

"BRING A MIRROR!" the queen bellowed, and the white rabbit which had brought Roxas and Axel so much trouble scrambled to fulfill the queen's order. Taking the mirror from the rabbit, Roxas re-climbed the steps to the podium and held the mirror up to the Queen of Hearts. Taking in her reflection, the queen saw what Roxas had noticed moments earlier. Jam was spread around her lips and the collar of her dress was littered with crumbs. The queen sat quietly, but her face turned a deadly shade of red. "I HEREBY FIND," she declared. "THE HATTER AND THE HARE GUILTY! I SENTENCE THEM TO BANISHMENT FROM WONDERLAND FOR ETERNITY!" she shouted, banging her scepter to announce the end the trial and dismiss the court. "ESCORT THEM FROM MY KINGDOM!" she ordered.

Cards immediately swarmed the two men, surrounding both of them and escorting them back to the bizarre room before realizing that they had no idea how to evict someone from their planet.

"What do we do?" the Ten of Hearts asked.

"I don't know," the Ace of Spades told him. "This has never happened before."

"Should we ask her Majesty?" The Ace of Hearts inquired.

"Do you _want_ to get beheaded?" the Ace of Spades demanded.

"Guys," Axel interrupted. "If we promise not to come back to Wonderland, will you leave us alone? We can get off this planet ourselves." The Ace of Hearts eyed the red-head suspiciously but the rest of the cards, eager to prove their undying loyalty to their queen by pretending to obey her order, easily persuaded him and left the two strangers to their own devices. "Well...this was an interesting experience." Axel stated, pulling the skeleton key from his pocket.

"Shut up and get us home." Roxas ordered. Axel obliged, placing the key into the door that led into the queen's courtyard and turning it. A 'clicking' noise was heard and when Axel pulled the door open they were looking into the foyer of the House of Darkling.

"You know," Axel commented later that night, climbing into their hotel bed. "It's too bad you couldn't keep the ears." Roxas's only response was to shove him out of bed.

~Review~


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: So if you are a die-hard Kingdom Hearts fan and don't like people messing with the game, thank you for making it this far into the story but you should probably stop reading now. It was suggested that not only do I re-write the worlds included in the game but create some new worlds as well. This chapter contains a re-writing of Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. Let me know what you think.

* * *

"Why did you never tell me you almost joined the police force with Sora?" Though Roxas could clearly hear the surprise in Axel's voice, he didn't tease the man - because the blond could also make out the underlying tone of accusation. Something about the idea of Roxas following his brother onto the force clearly upset the red-head. So Roxas set aside the pages he had been editing and motioned for Axel to join him on the couch.

"Because I didn't think it mattered? It was a long time ago. My dad liked the idea of me and Sora working together but…it wasn't what _I_ wanted to do. How did you even find out about that?" Axel waved an arm, as if encompassing the library and the entire House of Darkling.

"I was poking around, came across a hall of mirrors that show different futures that could have taken place."

"And I'm guessing one of those futures has me at the academy?" Roxas asked wryly, picking up his papers and continuing his editing. He set the papers down a minute later. "Hang on, why are _you_ seeing _my _possible futures?"

"Well…" Axel drawled. "Roughly seven out of ten futures have us meeting in some way, shape, or form, so when I saw a future that didn't involve you I'd tell the mirror to show me what you were doing at that same moment." he explained.

"Why does it bother you?" Roxas asked.

"Because," Axel stated, clearly distressed, "we wouldn't have met and people would be _shooting_ at you." Roxas refrained from reminding the red-head that only last week a crazy queen had been threatening to chop off his head. Axel was still a little sore on that subject - so much so that even though they had been to Darkling every day they had yet to venture to another world.

"Yes, but that future didn't happen, did it? I am sitting here, in a world where creatures can't die, ripping apart your atrocious use of the English language. So keep calm and carry on, Mr. Lea," Roxas stated, turning back to his editing once more.

"Yeah…yeah, I'll do that." Axel stated, smiling softly at the smaller man before Roxas' earlier statement sunk in. "Hey! What do you mean my 'atrocious use of the English language'?!"

* * *

By the time Roxas had finished his edits on the first three chapters of Kingdom Hearts he was once again bowled over by Axel's creativity and way with words. The Heartless characters that he had introduced would need to be fleshed out and explained but Roxas had felt like he was back in each world as he read. He was a little annoyed that there wasn't more to read.

"When are we going to visit another world?" he asked, voice scratchy from disuse. Axel turned away from the bookshelf he had been perusing and gave the blond an incredulous look. "Oh, come on!" Roxas shouted, annoyed. "It was one incident! Are you going to fake your way through the rest of the story because of it? Whatever happened to artistic integrity?" he demanded, stalking across the room to stand by the red-head.

"Roxas, I'm not going to endanger your life over a book! It's -"

"My life and I'll choose who can endanger it, when it will be endangered and why!" Roxas interrupted. "Do you have the key?" he demanded.

"Yes, but -"

"But nothing!" he stated angrily, ripping a book from the shelf and wrenching it open.

* * *

"Well, now you've done it. I don't suppose you even know what book you've thrown us into, do you?" Axel asked sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up." Roxas stated, brushing feathers out of his hair. "Where the hell did these feathers come from?"

"Never mind the feathers! We're talking about the bat!" Axel and Roxas stared at the thin mouse, who was dressed in a robe, pants and shoes, before looking at each other. They had been transformed to fit in with the new world and were now mice as well. Axel's fur was russet colored and his outfit had been changed into a two-piece suit to fit with the Victorian era they had fallen into. Roxas' fur was honey-colored and he had been placed in a cardigan and dress pants. They turned back to the thin mouse who had spoken to them.

"Right. The bat. What about the bat?" Axel asked.

"That bat, one Fidget by name, is in the employ of the fiend who was the very target of my experiment! The horror of my every waking moment. The nefarious Professor Ratigan!" The mouse gestured in the direction of the fireplace and Roxas and Axel noticed a picture of a well-dressed rat sitting on the mantle frame.

"Uh, Ratigan?" Roxas asked.

"He's a genius, my good man." The thin mouse stated, leaning over the back of his arm-chair before ducking down and re-appearing at the side of the chair. "A genius...twisted for evil," he explained, moving to stand in front of the chair. "The Napoleon of crime!"

"As bad as all that, eh?" Axel asked.

"Worse!" the detective stated, climbing part way up the steps before sticking his head through the banister. "For years I've tried to capture him and I've come close, so very close." He stood and walked back down the steps dejectedly. "But each time he's narrowly evaded my grasp. Now a corner of London's safe while Ratigan's at large. There's no evil scheme he wouldn't concoct! No depravity he wouldn't commit. Who knows what dastardly scheme that villain may be plotting even as we speak."

"But my father! What does he want with my father?" The little girl cried.

"There, there sweetie." Roxas stated, kneeling to comfort the little girl. He handed over his handkerchief so she could dry her eyes. "Perhaps you had better tell the detective precisely what's happened." The small mouse sniffed a few times to stop her tears before beginning her story.

"F-father had just finished his latest a-automaton when he asked me if I wanted by b-birthday present. All of a sudden a bat broke down the door. Father hid me in the closet, but he was taken. Can you find him, Mr. Basil?" Basil finished lighting his pipe before beginning to pace.

"Now, let's – Oh, and who are you two, again?" Basil asked, really noticing the two new mice for the first time. Roxas elbowed Axel, urging the red-head to say something.

"Uhm... Hi. I'm Axel, this is Roxas. We...came to speak with you – yeah, uhm – about Ratigan. We have...personal...reasons for wanting to bring him down. And we heard that you were the man – uh, mouse – to talk to."

"Very well," Basil stated, waving them into the sitting room. "This case is most intriguing with its multiplicity of elements...its many twists and turns." He spun around to face the little mouse. "Now you're certain you've told me everything, Olivia? The slightest detail may be important."

"It's just as I said," she stated, her voice betraying her annoyance with Basil. "And then my father was gone."

"What do you make of it?" Roxas asked. Basil resumed his pacing and Olivia began to follow him.

"Hmm," Basil mused. "Ratigan's up to something, a crime of the most sinister nature no doubt. The question is: what would he want with a toy maker?" Basil continued both his pacing and his musing. Olivia – growing tired of the game – stopped in front of the window and peered out at the rain. As a lightening streaked across the sky, Fidget popped down from above the window and leered at the little mouse. Olivia shrieked and all four adults rushed to the window – Basil just in time to see Fidget disappear from sight.

"Quickly, all! Not a moment to lose!" he cried, rushing toward the door.

"Right behind you!" Axel shouted, right on Basil's heels. Roxas was quick to follow the writer – the last thing he needed was to explain to Xemnas that XIII's star writer was dead because he decided to chase a bat in another world - but he made sure to keep a careful eye on Olivia.

"Is there any sign of the blackguard?" Olivia asked, sticking with Basil's housekeeper - who had come running when she heard Olivia's scream. Fidget had disappeared, but Basil, Axel and Roxas were scouring the ground for clues. Roxas tapped Basil on the shoulder and motioned to the sidewalk where a set of muddy footprints could be seen leaving a clear impression of a foot and a peg-leg.

"He left some rather unusual footprints. They obviously belong to the same fiend who abducted the girl's father. Ratigan's peg-legged lackey."

"Uh...Basil?" Axel questioned, lifting a hat off the ground.

"Ah-ha! Excellent work, young man! Ha, ha, ha!" He rushed back into the house, nearly running down Olivia in his haste. The others trailed in behind him and Roxas stopped to talk to Olivia.

"The scoundrel's quite gone."

"Ha-ha! But not for long, Miss Flamhammer." Basil assured her, throwing off his robe and replacing it with a brown jacket.

"Flaversham!" Olivia corrected.

"Whatever. Now, we simply pursue our peg-legged friend until he leads us to the girl's father." Basil explained.

"Then you'll get my daddy back?" She asked excitedly, rushing over and enveloping the detective in a hug.

"Yeees." Basil pushed down on the small mouse and pulled his legs free from her grasp. "And quite soon if I'm not mistaken. Now, hurry along, Axel, Roxas. We must be off to Toby's," he stated, grabbing a cape from a suit of armor.

"Toby's?" Roxas asked, voicing the question on everyone's mind.

"Oh, you must meet him. He's just the chap for this." Basil continued, placing a deerstalker cap on his head.

"You-you want all of us to come?" Roxas asked.

"Ha!" Basil shouted. "My good sir, I haven't quite figured you or your friend here out," he stated, "but I should think that I know the types of people who are up for an adventure. And I'd wager my next case that you two have seen a fair share of it. "

"Well, heh, heh, I can't speak for Roxas here, but I _am_ rather curious." Axel stated.

"Wait for me!" Olivia cried. "I'm coming too!" She grabbed her scarf and rushed to join the group of gentlemen, knocking Basil's violin in the process. The detective dove to grab it.

"What? Certainly not!" he stated, placing his violin back on the chair. "This is no business for children."

"Are we going to take a cab?" she asked, ignoring Basil's refusals and placing several crumpets in her coat pocket.

"Oh..." Basil grabbed the young mouse's hand and turned her around to face him. "My dear, I don't think you understand. It will be quite dangerous." He moved to sit and wound up crushing his violin in half. He pulled the ruined instrument out from underneath him. "Why you – Look at -" He took a deep breath, trying to control his rage. "Young lady, you are most definitely not accompanying us. And that is final!"

* * *

They trekked silently through dark passages. Olivia stuck close to Basil and Roxas and Axel lagged behind to talk quietly.

"Do you have any idea where we are?" Roxas inquired.

"Well, if I had to guess, I'd say London - sometime in the Victorian era. I can't get more precise than that without more information." Basil motioned for quiet as he opened a small wall design and peeked into the room. Olivia - eager to be included - opened the doorway further, receiving a glare of annoyance from the mouse detective.

"And not a word out of you. Is that clear?" he asked the girl. Olivia shushed him as two shadows approached and Basil quickly grabbed the young mouse and closed the door, leaving a small crack open. They listened as two men argued over German music, but the resistant man - Watson - finally conceded to his friend and they left. The four mice crept into the open and Basil began calling for his friend. Olivia tugged on Roxas' cardigan and as he knelt down she asked,

"Who is Toby?"

"Well, Toby is…well, he's, uh, uh…" Roxas turned to Basil. "Who is this Toby?" Before the detective could answer, thundering footsteps could be heard. Roxas struggled to keep himself and Olivia upright as a basset hound puppy barreled into the room.

"Ahh! Here he is now!" He pushed Roxas and Axel forward as Toby leaned down. "Roxas…Toby. Axel…Toby." Roxas nervously patted the dog's head as Axel immediately began scratching behind Toby's ear. Toby jerked upright without warning, knocking the writer and editor over before he placed his nose to the ground and began sniffing around the room. As Axel helped Roxas up, Toby paused at a footrest and the fringe slowly split in two as Olivia cautiously peered out before smiling at the puppy.

"Hello, Toby!" She patted his nose as he sniffed her. "Silly doggy! Would you like a crumpet?" The hound nodded as the girl reached into her pocket. She held the crumpet above her head, giggling as he carefully licked it off her hand.

"Here now, Toby? Toby! To the matter at hand," Basil stated, ignoring the proceedings as he reached into his pocket, "I want you to -" He cut off as he turned and realized that Toby wasn't listening to him. The puppy was on his back enjoying a belly rub from Olivia. Basil whistled and Toby rolled his head back to see the detective clearing his throat and tapping his foot in annoyance. Axel tried to hide his amusement as Olivia slid off Toby into Roxas' arms and Toby rolled back onto his feet, facing Basil. Roxas smiled tenderly as he set Olivia on the ground and Axel felt something tighten in his chest.

"I didn't know you liked kids," he stated, ignoring the growling noises behind him. Roxas scowled but before he could say anything, a confused whine from Toby arrested his attention.

"Oh, he's a peg-legged bat with a broken wing," Basil explained carelessly, waving Fidget's hat as Toby began to growl again. "Yes! Yes! That's the spirit! Got his scent?" At Toby's nod Basil retrieved his leash. As he turned around, Toby was facing Olivia, Roxas and Axel. Annoyed, Basil moved between them. "Miss Flamchester!"

"Flaversham!" Olivia corrected in unison with Roxas. Axel tamped down on his grin.

"Whatever. Your father is as good as found," Basil stated as he hooked Toby's leash to his collar. "Toby… Sic 'em!"

* * *

"Splendid job, Toby!" Basil praised as he jumped from the dog's muzzle to a windowsill. Olivia stood on Toby's muzzle and held both her arms out toward the detective. Basil gave her a look of annoyance but held out his arms and she jumped. Basil put her down as Axel and Roxas joined them. Axel peered around curiously as Roxas kept an eye on Olivia and Basil struggled to get Toby to sit.

"Sit, Toby," Olivia ordered after the detective failed for the third time. The hound promptly sat and Basil stared at the young mouse.

"Good boy," he stated to Toby. "If you'll excuse me," he stated as he moved past Olivia.

"You be good now," Olivia instructed Toby. "We're going to find my father." Basil inspected the window and the ledge, discovering how Fidget entered the shop. Opening the window, the four mice entered the store - Axel shutting the window behind them.

"I've never seen so many toys," Olivia stated as she looked around the store. She quickly hid behind Roxas as Basil darted out from behind a doll's leg.

"Behind any of which could be a bloodthirsty assassin. So please, be very careful." He stated ignoring the annoyed looks Axel and Roxas hot at him as Olivia trembled.

"What is a bat doing in a toy store?" Axel questioned as they trailed after Basil.

"Maybe he's having a second childhood," Roxas offered. "After all, not everyone gets to act like a child forever. Ow!" he hissed, rubbing his arm where Axel hit him.

"So sorry," Axel stated, not sounding sorry at all. "So hard to see in the dark."

"You're a bastard," Roxas stated, retaliating by stepping on the other mouse's tail. The fight would have escalated if Basil had not chosen that moment to drag them up a ladder. They began to creep cautiously along the shelf when a sudden crashing noise caused the men to freeze before Roxas jumped and clutched Axel's arm. Peering behind them they could see Olivia had turned on one of the toy music boxes and was watching a noisy firemen band play. Basil leaped for the control lever and shut the toy off.

"Please! Quiet!" He turned to Roxas. "Don't let this girl out of your sight." Roxas kept his death grip on Axel's arm but mock-saluted the detective as he passed. Glancing at Olivia, Axel fought not to laugh out loud as the little mouse mimicked Roxas' salute. Roxas let go of Axel and took her hand and Axel tried to tell himself he was glad that Roxas let go so the blood could flow through his arm again.

They quietly moved across a chessboard and Axel paused by a rook before pushing it over one space. "Checkmate!" he whispered triumphantly. At Roxas' quizzical look, he shrugged. "Chess Club," he explained.

"Nerd," Roxas teased, a small smile softening the delivery and Axel grinned back at him.

"Geek," Axel teased back. They were interrupted from anything further by an exclamation from Basil.

"Ah-ha! Evidence of our peg-legged adversary!" He whipped out his magnifying glass and followed the footprints to a row of naked soldiers. "Hmm…how very odd."

"What is it?" Roxas asked.

"Isn't it painfully obvious?" The detective asked, his voice betraying just how incompetent he thought the young man to be. "These dolls have been stripped of their uniforms. And not by any child, either. Hello…" he darted to get a better view of the inside of the mechanical toys. "Someone has taken the liberty of removing the clockwork mechanisms from these toys."

"Uh…Basil?" Roxas asked. The editor had been doing some investigating of his own and held a slip of paper in his hand.

"Please, I'm trying to concentrate." Basil stated, still poking around the toys.

"Would you just listen to him?" Axel asked, irritated that the detective was blowing Roxas off. Basil opened his mouth to give a scathing retort, but a terrified scream from Olivia cut him off.

"Quickly!" Basil ordered, disappearing behind a book. He quickly changed his direction as a large Ferris wheel rolled toward the three of them. The three mice managed to jump out of way in time, landing safely on an Around the World path toy but relief is short lived. Fidget - carrying Olivia in a cloth sack - knocked a porcelain doll of the shelf above the three mice. As the doll barreled toward them they strove to get out of its way, however only the path beneath their feet moved. As the last piece of path passed beneath their feet, they jumped out of the way just as the doll crashed to the ground. Axel, Roxas and Basil leapt to their feet, but Fidget had wound up a toy jouster. Basil and Axel dodged out of the way but Roxas - unaccustomed to fighting - was caught by the lance and pinned to the dartboard. Basil took off after Fidget but Axel stood - not sure whether to help Roxas or follow Basil. Roxas made the decision for him.

"Go get Olivia!" he shouted, struggling to free himself from the lance. Axel took off at high speed, following the different sounds of the toys to figure out where the detective and his adversary were. He caught up just in time to see a pile of blocks tumble down, taking Basil with them. Axel watched helplessly as Fidget chuckled evilly and climbed out of the toy shop, Olivia's muffled screams for help dying behind him. He sighed in bitter disappointment before moving to help untangle Basil from a doll's pull string.

"Basil! Axel!" Roxas called, rushing up to the two mice. "Olivia…she's…"

"Gone." Basil snapped irritably. "Confound it, I told you to watch over the girl!" The detective fell to the ground as Axel finally managed to untie the string. He quickly climbed to his feet, regaining his wind and his temper. "Now she's been spirited away by that maniacal little monster, soon to be in the clutches of the most depraved mind in all of London! I should have known better than to…" he trailed off mid-rant as he saw Axel clutching Roxas. The red-head was glaring at the detective while trying to comfort a dejected Roxas. "I say…Roxas?" Basil asked, concerned. Roxas sniffled.

"I should have watched her more closely."

"Don't worry. We'll get her back." Axel stated, his voice taking on a hard edge as he glared at the detective.

"Do you think there's a chance?" Roxas asked, raising his head off of Axel's shoulder.

"There's always a chance, as long as one can think." Basil stated as he began to pace. Roxas sighed, pulling away from Axel and shoving his hands in his pants pockets. A puzzled expression crossed his face as he pulled out the list.

"Get the following: tools, gears…"

"What?" Basil asked, hearing the editor.

"Girl, unif-"

"You've done it!" Basil shouted, snatching the list out of Roxas' hands. "This list is precisely what we need!"

"What?" Roxas asked, confused. Basil ignored him, shoving his deerstalker cap onto his head and rushing toward the window.

"Quickly, back to Baker Street!"

* * *

"You're really fond of her." Axel remarked quietly as Basil studied the list from the toy shop. Roxas gave a small smile, though his eyes were still red and rimmed with unshed tears.

"She reminds me a lot of someone I used to know." Roxas stated. He tried to sniff and scowled when he realized his nose was plugged. He grudgingly took a tissue from Axel and blew his nose though the scowl remained on his face. He knew he looked like a mess and he _hated_ feeling less together than the person he was fighting. And with Axel, it was always a fight. Roxas shook his head 'no' at the look on Axel's face. "I don't want to talk about her right now."

"Some other time, then?" Axel asked hesitantly. Roxas lips twisted in a wry smile.

"Some other time."

"We've done it!" Basil shouted gleefully. "This reaction could only have been triggered by the paper's extreme saturation with distillation of sodium chloride." Axel's brow furrowed as he tried to take in what the detective had just said.

"Salt water?" Roxas inquired, confused.

"It proves beyond a doubt that this list came from the riverfront area," Basil stated, pinning a map on the wall with a dart. "We merely have to look for a seedy pub at the only spot," he marked the spot with another dart, "where the sewer connects to the waterfront."

* * *

"Stay, Toby, stay." Basil ordered, adjusting his fake mustache and making last minute adjustments on his sailor costume. He hunched his shoulders and approached the door to a run-down bar called 'The Rat Trap'. Axel shoved his hands into his pockets, completely at ease in his outfit. Roxas, however, was hiding behind a column of the pier.

"Uh, you guys?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh, come, come, Roxas," Basil chided, taking a cigarette out of his case.

"I feel utterly ridiculous."

"Don't be absurd. You look perfect." Basil assured him. Roxas slipped around the column wearing a bandana over his head, an eye-patch and a gold earring. But what really raised Axel's eyebrows was the red and white striped shirt which was much too short for him. Roxas scowled as he attempted to tuck it into his tattered brown pants.

"Perfect?" Roxas asked incredulously. "Perfectly foolish."

"Oh, I don't know, blondie," Axel leered. "You look _just fine_ to me." Roxas raised his glare to the writer.

"Keep it in your pants," he snarled, shoving past the other man to join Basil by the door. The detective shushed the two mice as he opened the bar door. Inside, all the mice are drinking, smoking or playing poker. A mouse pounded on a piano as an octopus danced on stage. A patron was hitting on the barmaid, but when he moved in for a kiss she punched him. Basil struck a match against the wall as the group took in the scene.

"Alright, stay close and do what I do." Basil informed them. Axel gave him a look that clearly showed how unimpressed he was with the advice. He already knew this scene. They moved through the bar and Axel signaled the bartender as the three of them made their way to a table. The other patrons eyed the newcomers suspiciously. The trio took their seats and if Roxas sat a little closer to Axel then usual…well. The octopus finished his act and the blond moved to clap, but Axel pinned his hands down with his arm and shook his head minutely as the other patrons began booing and heckling the performer. The octopus quickly made his way off-stage, just in time to avoid the knives and darts thrown at him.

"What's your pleasure, mates?" The barmaid asked, slinking up to their table.

"Uh…" Roxas stuttered, turning to Axel for help.

"Three pints for me and my shipmates. Oh," he began, as if the idea had just struck him, "by the way…we just got into port and we're looking for an old friend of mine. Maybe you know him. He goes by the name of Ratigan." The barmaid gasped along with several of the poker players and the pianist.

"I…never heard of him." She stated, recovering from her shock. Basil stared at Axel in pleased surprise and the rest of the attention was drawn away as the pianist struck up another song. The act was short lived as the patrons immediately resumed their booing and commenced throwing food and weaponry. As a knife struck the piano, the pianist immediately began the third act. The curtain opened to reveal a pretty mouse in a blue tank-top, purple skirt and pink shawl. As she began to sing, the patrons slowly relaxed, dropping their weapons.

Had they happened upon this world at an earlier point in time, Roxas might have been more interested in the singer. As it was, his eyes were glued to Axel, who was completely at his ease playing poker with the ruffians. Basil was keeping an eye on the barmaid as she whispered to the bartender, who promptly poured the contents of a vial into three mugs of beer. The barmaid made her way back to the table and set the drinks before Basil and Roxas.

"There you are, boys. It's, uh…on the house," she stated before rushing away.

"Don't drink that," Basil muttered as the blond mouse raised the mug. Roxas sent him an inquiring look, but placed the mug back onto the table. Roxas opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he could speak the singer tossed a boa around his neck and began trying to drag him away.

"Thanks, really, but, uh…well, I'm not all that great of a singer. Or dancer." Roxas stated, ducking beneath the feathers and reclaiming his seat. The singer's back up dancers grabbed him by the arms and were hauling him to the stage amidst his protests, but Axel ducked out of his poker game, grabbing the blond around his waist and easily pulling him out of the dancers' grips.

"Sorry, ladies, he's engaged for this dance," Axel stated, grinning widely as he tugged the editor back to their table.

"Thanks," Roxas muttered softly, knocking the mug out of Axel's hand as he raised it to his mouth. "Don't drink that!" he hissed as it clattered to the floor.

"The hell, man?" he protested.

"The drinks have been drugged," Basil explained, purposefully motioning with the hand holding his mug and letting it slop onto the floor.

"Isn't that our peg-legged friend?" Roxas asked quietly, discreetly nodding his head.

"Ooh hoo! What luck!" Basil explained gleefully. They watched as Fidget limped along, but as Basil prepared to tail him, Fidget's peg leg stuck in a hole in the floor. The bat fought to release his leg, spinning head over heels as the momentum carried him crashing into the piano. The pianist - angered by the interruption - prepared to knock the bat in the head, but Fidget collapsed as the pianist swung and he wound up hitting a large, burly mouse by mistake. The mouse grabbed the pianist by the throat and prepared to punch him. However, the pianist wriggled loose, resulting in the mouse punching the piano and sending it flying into the other band members. An all-out brawl broke out and the three mice struggled to follow Fidget through all the fighting.

"There!" Axel pointed, spotting Fidget disappearing through a trap-door behind the bar.

"Where are we going?" Roxas asked. "Great Scott, I can't see a thing!"

"Shh!" Basil reprimanded. "All right, make a train. Grab my coat and follow along!"

* * *

To say that things went poorly would be tantamount to saying that a tornado was a mere breeze and the three mice were now strapped to a mouse-trap as a record ticked down to their demise. Olivia watched from the her glass bottle prison as Axel and Roxas tried to talk a dejected Basil into figuring a way out of the trap.

"Basil?" Roxas asked. Basil merely groaned in response. "Basil?"

"Oh how could I have been so blind?"

"We all make mistakes but we can't let that stop us! We have to-"

"Ratigan's proved he's more clever than I!" Basil stated, interrupting the blond. He scoffed. "He would never have walked into such an obvious trap. And now he's off kidnapping the Queen so he can take over the empire."

"Oh, pull yourself together!" Axel snapped, struggling against the trap. "You can stop that villain, why-" he cut off as the record began skipping. "Basil, the record!"

"Oh, it's finally happened. I've been outwitted," the detective lamented. "Beaten. Duped. Made a fool of. Ridiculed. Belittled."

"That's enough!" Roxas shouted, angry. He was not ready to die, especially in such an undignified manner. "Your Queen is in danger, Olivia's counting on us, we're about to be horribly 'splatted' and all you can do is lie there feeling sorry for yourself! I thought you could save us, but if you've given up then why don't we set it off now and be done with it!" Basil chuckled weakly as Roxas' words turned over in his head.

"Set if off now. Set it...off...now? Yes! We'll...we'll set the trap off now!"

"Wait!" Roxas cried, horrified. "I didn't mean that we ought-" But Basil was muttering calculations under his breath as the record came to an end.

"Axel, at the exact moment I tell you, we must release the triggering mechanism." The writer shook his head slightly. Roxas squeezed his eyes shut as the ball came closer to the trap. "NOW!"

The metal switch came down on the ball, saving the three from being squished and setting off a sequence of events – ending with the bottle trapping Olivia being broken open. Roxas swept the young mouse into his arms, glad to see her safe and sound.

"Now to stop Ratigan! Follow me!" Basil shouted, his enthusiasm at an all-time high after thwarting Ratigan's elaborate trap. Re-tracing their steps back to the waterfront, Basil whistled for Toby. "The game's afoot, Toby. Our Queen is in mortal danger." Toby bent his ear into a staircase and the four mice climbed onto the hound's back. "To Buckingham Palace!"

* * *

Rushing into the palace, the group was in time to see Fidget attempting to throw the Queen over the balcony as a treat to Ratigan's pet cat. Sliding down the hallway, Axel grabbed the Queen out of Fidget's arms, sending the bat over the balcony himself. Flapping his wings, Fidget gripped the balcony and tried to keep away from the cat's jaws. The sound of Toby's barking sends the cat running and Fidget climbed back in the window.

Inside the palace, Basil lead the group through the hallways trying to find Flaversham. They find him operating the robot queen with a gun pointed at his back. Axel knocked the guard out and Basil took the controls from Flaversham, exposing Ratigan as a fraud and imposter. The queen's guards poured in from the hallways, grabbing Ratigan and Fidget as well as the rest of Ratigan's lackeys.

* * *

"To be thanked by the Queen herself. Must be thrilling to be thanked for being nosy for once," Roxas teased Axel. The writer shrugged.

"All in a day's work." Basil stated, placing his memento next to Ratigan's picture on the mantle.

"Oh, Roxas, you and Axel were wonderful!" Olivia stated, throwing her arms around the waist of the blushing blond.

"Indeed," Flaversham chuckled, glancing at his pocket watch. "Oh my, we're late to catch our train. Come along, Olivia."

"Yes, Father," Olivia stated as he left Basil's sitting room. She lingered, facing the detective. "Goodbye, Basil," she said, sniffling. "I'll never forget you." The detective leaned down to her height.

"Nor I you, Miss...Flangerhanger." Olivia stared at him for a moment before shaking her head, a small smile on her face. Roxas rolled his eyes while Axel snickered beside him.

"Goodbye, Roxas. Axel," she stated, giving them both a hug before heading out the door.

"Well... Not a bad little girl, actually."

"Not at all," Roxas stated. "It's about time we were on our way as well." Anything else was cut off as someone knocked on Basil's front door.

"Oh, now who could that be?" Basil asked, opening the front door. A young lady stood on the front door, escorted by an older mouse.

"Hello, is this the house of Basil of Baker Street?" The man asked, taking his bowler hat off his head.

"Indeed, it is Doctor. I take it you're escorting this young lady so I may assist her in her troubles?" Basil asked, waving the two into the sitting rooms. Roxas elbowed Axel in the side and tilted his head. They snuck out of the room as Basil's attention was arrested by his new client.

"Well, that was...different." Roxas stated once they were back in the House of Darkling. Axel merely snorted as he collapsed onto the couch in the library. "And I'm sorry I almost got you killed in a mouse-trap," the blond said, rolling his eyes.

"Definitely a different way to die. But I think next time we should read the title before jumping into a book, yeah?" Axel asked sarcastically. A sly smile slid onto Roxas' face.

"So we _will_ be world-jumping again?" Roxas asked. Axel groaned, hitting the editor over the head with a pillow.

"Stop being so smug, shortie. It's unbecoming." The writer straightened himself out on the couch. "So..." He clasped his hands between his knees and looked up at his companion. Roxas sighed, knowing he couldn't put the conversation off any longer.

"You want to know who Olivia reminded me of." Roxas paused, collecting his thoughts before sitting next to Axel on the couch. The red-head stayed silent, waiting for Roxas to initiate conversation. "She reminded me of a friend. Her name was Namine."

"Was?" Axel asked gently.

"She was Kairi's little sister. They were...they were both really sick for a while. Kairi needed a new heart and...the doctors could never figure out what was wrong with Namine. She...had them take her off life-support and they gave her heart to Kairi."

"Rox...I-" The blond sniffed, his eyes red-rimmed from holding back the tears.

"It's not that I don't love Kairi and it sounds positively horrible to say but... Namine was my best friend. And she can never be replaced, not even by her sister."

"That's not horrible, Roxas," Axel stated, slinging a comforting arm around the smaller man. "And knowing Kairi, even if she knew how you felt I doubt she'd hold it against you. Now come on, we both need sleep," he stated, pulling the younger man to his feet.

"I thought for sure you'd be typing away like a mad demon on the next chapter."

"I don't know," Axel shrugged. "I'm not sure I want to use this world..."

"Are you kidding me?" Roxas asked, stopping in his tracks and staring at the taller man. "We get dragged all over London by a fiendish rat, risking life and limb and you aren't even going to use it?!" The writer didn't answer, merely passed out into the hallway and headed for the front door. "AXEL!" Roxas shouted. Not getting an answer, the blond did the only thing he knew how to do. He followed.

~Review~


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: This chapter isn't beta'd at the moment. My lovely beta is quite bogged down with school and other things, so as soon as I get the edited chapter I will upload it. In the meantime, I wanted to post this as soon as possible for Halloween. I meant to have it up earlier, but Hurricane Sandy had other ideas and kindly took out my power. *shakes fist in anger* However, my family and I were fortunate enough to escape with no damage, so while you enjoy this chapter, kindly remember those who _weren't_ as fortunate.

* * *

"Pick a different route. If we keep going around in circles I'm gonna throw up. And if I throw up, I'm going to make sure I do it on you," Roxas groused, settling in against the thickly padded seats of the carriage. Axel didn't even glance in the blond's direction but the carriage immediately changed direction.

"Quiet, blondie, I'm trying to think here." Axel snapped irritably.

"No, you're moping over the fact that you've hit a writer's block," Roxas snapped back, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Pacing in circles helps me to think." Axel stated, eyes still locked on the passing scenery.

"Except we're not pacing; we're riding around Darkling estate in a horse and carriage." The editor pointed out. The red-head's gloom lifted enough to allow a small smile to flicker across his lips.

"Well, Specter is a very special horse. It's not every day you come across a silver horse covered in petals instead of hair." Roxas made a small noise in the back of his throat which could have been agreement or amusement. The writer half-expected a scathing comment on Axel's inability to let anything alone but the smaller man merely pushed himself to the edge of the seat and peered out the carriage window.

In the distance a large pond was visible with a lonely tree jutting out over the water. A single rowboat drifted listlessly from a small, battered dock on the length of rope that tied it in place. The water at the center of the pond began to bulge with the release of air bubbles, but nothing emerged from beneath the surface. Roxas shivered in spite of himself and flopped back against the soft velvet.

"Specter, back to the house," Axel ordered softly, his irritation at his predicament replaced with concern for his companion. "Are you okay?" he asked, carefully shifting to Roxas' side of the carriage as Specter adjusted his direction.

"I'm fine," Roxas stated, covering his embarrassment with irritation. "I'm just not...I'm still not comfortable with this place. It has some beautiful things and then...that," he gestured back towards the pond. "It's disconcerting." The blond glowered out the window, expecting his companion to tease him but Roxas often forgot how very real Axel's people skills were. The writer merely settled his back against the cushions and grabbed the editor's hand in his own.

"Darkling is very...gothic." Axel stated. "And as long as we stay back from the fence and don't leave the property we'll be fine." At Roxas' sharp look Axel explained, "Mr. Whatley's neighbor's don't care for humans."

"Neither does Mr. Whatley, remember?" Roxas heaved a sigh. "I'll be fine. I can deal with it, I'm just not used to it." Axel snorted.

"If either of us start to get used to this place then it will be time to leave and find a different way of traveling from world to world, okay?" he asked, leaning down to peer in the blond's face. The blond gave a tired smile.

"Alright. What's on the agenda today? Tonight?" Roxas amended, glancing at the dark sky. "He really is something, isn't he?" he asked, glancing at Specter. The animal's silver petals were glowing in the moonlight, giving the creature an ethereal appearance and if Roxas wasn't stroking the horse's petals he would almost believe that he was dreaming the entire thing.

"Well," Axel grinned, "since we are coming up on my _favorite_ holiday I thought we could celebrate by traveling to a world dedicated to Halloween."

"Of course you did," Roxas replied, rolling his eyes in fond exasperation. "And how did you discover this quaint little world?" he asked, trailing behind the red-head as they re-entered the House of Darkling. "By being nosy?"

"By _investigating_, my dear. Mr. Whatley has another smaller room of books behind one of the walls in the library. I was lucky enough to push the correct wall panel to unlock it."

"How fortunate for you." Roxas responded drily. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Will you just come on," he demanded, tugging the shorter man along after him. Entering the library, Axel rounded the staircase and headed straight for a small alcove. Reaching the far wall he released Roxas' wrist and pressed one of the wall panels. His grin widened as the wall swung on an invisible hinge and he bounded into the room. Roxas stepped in tentatively behind him and looked around as Axel searched for the book he wanted. "Here!" He exclaimed happily, thrusting the leather-bound book into the blond's hands.

"'Come visit the land of Halloween Town, where Halloween never ends. Read the scintillating tale of a land of Ghouls and Goblins.' We're going to jump into a story about a land where it's always Halloween?" Roxas asked, shooting the writer an unimpressed look.

"Oh, come on, Roxas. It'll be fun! It's Halloween!"

"And poor Thanksgiving is always ignored. Lucky for the turkey," the blond muttered wryly. Axel gave the smaller man a sharp grin before taking the book back.

"At least this time we have an idea of what we're getting into."

"I'm never living that down, am I?" Roxas sulked, crossing his arms and glaring at the taller man. Axel merely laughed and cracked open the book and dropping it on the floor.

* * *

Axel and Roxas whirled into the new world, the red-head hunkered down over the blond to help protect him from the high winds. Once the wind had died down he rose slowly, taking in the monochromatic colors around them.

"It's so...gray," he stated, turning this way and that to try and see a little bit more.

"An astute observation. I can see why you're a writer. By the way, who are you supposed to be – Dracula?"

"We changed to fit into this world, didn't we?" Axel asked with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yep." Roxas cocked his head to the side and Axel dared to meet his gaze. "I've never seen you with your hair pulled back before." He stepped forward and brought a finger to the edge of Axel's mouth. "You've even got fangs."

"You've got cat ears and a tail, blondie," he replied, watching with bemusement as the smaller man quickly exited Axel's personal space and tried to hide his flush of embarrassment. And sometimes Roxas just made it _too _easy. "You look cute as a cat." He grinned as the blond scowled at him.

"I am NOT -" Roxas cut off as Axel raised a hand and rubbed one of the cat ears sticking out from Roxas' hair. Much to the blond's mortification, he was barely able to swallow down the purr and he batted Axel's hand away in irritation. "Look, are we going to check out this world or not?"

"Sure, Rox," Axel chuckled, moving toward what appeared to be the town square. "Whatever you want," he added, dropping a quick kiss to the blond's head as he moved past the man. Roxas glared at the taller man's back but it still couldn't quite hide the small smile on his lips.

Roxas peered around what he had mentally dubbed the Guillotine Square. He watched as Axel flitted excitedly around the gray-scale environment and as the red-head continued to scribble down notes Roxas meandered his way to the center of the square and sat down on the edge of the fountain. To the right of the entrance they had come through was a large guillotine, hence the name Guillotine Square. Continuing around the square was another door illuminated by jack-o'-lantern streetlights. By craning his neck and straining his eyesight Roxas could just make out the outline of houses beyond the wall. Further along the square he could make out an opening in the wall leading to a graveyard. Any further investigation was halted by the appearance of a portly man. Roxas eyed the man, who was shaped eerily similar to a triangle. He was dressed in a business suit with a large red and white ribbon with the word 'Mayor' in capital letters placed above his left breast pocket. His left eye was nothing but a swirl and in place of a tie was a black widow spider. A long thin top hat completed his outfit.

"Hello, welcome to our fair city! Are you here to help us with the preparations for next Halloween? Or perhaps you're here to document this historical event!" He continued, catching sight of Axel's notebook.

"That is precisely what we are here to do Mr. Mayor," the red-head lied smoothly as he shook the small man's hand. "My name is Axel, this is my associate Roxas. We're from Organization XIII. What can you tell us about this historical moment?"

"Well...uh..." The mayor paused, trying to think of something to say. As panic set in, his head twisted around to show his other face. His skin was a ghastly shade of pale blue with yellow eyes and his mouth was pulled into a grimace. Axel didn't even bat an eyelash and Roxas was proud that the only indication he gave of shock was a twitch of his tail. As quickly as his face had changed, it changed back. "Jack!" he called, waving down a tall, thin skeleton. "Come tell these gentlemen about your plans for the Night Terrors! They're here to document it for history. Boys, this is Jack Skellington, the mastermind behind all of this." The mayor excused himself and hurried away leaving the two companions to eye the skeleton as he approached. The skeleton was tall, well over six feet and was dressed in a well-fitting black suit with thin white stripes. A bat bow-tie hung on his neck and his skull was completely bare. Though a wide friendly grin was plastered across his face, both Axel and Roxas could imagine how terrifying this skeleton could be.

"Hello, I'm Jack Skellington. It's such a pleasure to meet you," he greeted, grasping first Axel's, then Roxas' hand in his boney grip.

"The pleasure is ours, Mr. Skellington," Axel replied with a grin, his fangs glistening in the dim light. "What can you tell us about your involvement with the Night Terrors? How did you come up with this unprecedented idea?"

"It was the day after Halloween. We had just had our most successful year yet, especially after the whole Christmas debacle. These new citizens of Halloween Town just showed up overnight but they seem to have nothing to do with the rest of us. We're trying to find a way to control them and use them in next year's festival."

"What do these Terrors look like? How do they act towards the other citizens?"

"At first it was just small things – new variations of typical monsters – but lately they've been progressing. The latest infiltration was a few months ago and they look like something from another world. They seem to be some type of soldier and they brought something called a 'jabberwocky'." Jack explained, mangling the pronunciation. Roxas shot Axel a worried look but the red-head ignored him. Jack paused, tapping a long finger against his mouth as he thought. "Actually, if you'd like to know more about it, I was on my way to Dr. Finkelstein's lab to see how he was progressing with his experiment to control the Terrors. Perhaps you'd like to come along?" he asked. Axel peered over his shoulder and grinned at the blond. Roxas rolled his eyes but grinned back, showing his own elongated canines.

"We'd love to," Axel stated, turning back to the skeleton.

"Excellent!" Jack exclaimed excitedly. "You're going to love it, I can tell!" he stated as he led the two men toward the door by the jack-o'-lantern streetlights.

As Jack led them through the streets of Halloween Town Roxas grabbed Axel and purposely lagged behind.

"Those Night Terrors he was talking about are directly out of your stories, Axel," Roxas whispered worriedly, his ears twitching in agitation. "How is that even possible?" he demanded.

"I'm aware of that, blondie. This world is for the things that scare humans. I write horror and fantasy; is it any wonder that some of my creations wound up here?"

"So why aren't they interacting with the other citizens?" Roxas countered. Axel frowned, his eyebrows knitting together as he tried to figure out this new puzzle.

"I don't know," he conceded with a sigh. "Maybe it's something we can fix while we're here."

"Preferably _before_ your Mud Man starts creeping around and snatching random citizens." Roxas stated while glaring at the red-head. Axel rolled his eyes before shaking his head.

"Really, Rox, you worry too much."

"No, Axel, I worry just enough," he replied. A few short strands of Axel's hair had worked themselves loos of his ponytail and the smaller man was momentarily distracted by the way they framed Axel's before. He pulled himself together and continued, "I worry enough for two people because you don't worry at all." The writer's green eyes narrowed and his mouth opened but before he could give voice to his arguments, Jack's voice floated down the street.

"Here we are! Come along, I don't want to keep the doctor waiting!" Roxas moved to push past the taller man but Axel caught his elbow and tugged him closer.

"We'll finish this later," Axel hissed before dropping Roxas' arm and moving forward to catch up with the Pumpkin King. "So, what exactly is Dr. Finkelstein a doctor of?" Axel was asking as Roxas caught up with the pair.

"I'm not sure; you'll have to ask him. But we couldn't ask for a better mad scientist." Jack stated as he led the duo to Dr. Finkelstein's research lab. The house itself resembled a large satellite dish, thought instead of being concave, the "dish" extended outward, much like a UFO. They walked up the slippery stone steps and Jack led them up to the second floor. They entered a spacious room filled with science equipment where a small man in a wheelchair was perusing documents which were spread across one of the wooden tables. Roxas and Axel hung back as Jack greeted the doctor – Axel furiously scribbling down his impressions. The doctor was a tiny man, with small hands encased in black rubber gloves which extended up to his elbows. Small black goggles were wrapped around his massive cranium and settled on his small nose which, in turn, widened into a mouth rather similar to a duck's bill. But what struck the writer was the fact that the doctor's skin was as white as the lab coat he wore.

"Oh, Jack!" he greeted. Roxas was surprised by how old the doctor's voice sounded. "I've been working on your little problem and I believe I have come up with a suitable solution." The diminutive man steered his motorized wheelchair around the table and pointed to one of his many blackboards. Roxas and Axel peered at the chalk sketch but could make no sense of the scientific scribblings. "A heart," he explained. "These newcomers are indiscriminate about who they scare. A heart should help give them a conscience. Then you'll be one step closer to your dream of having them dance in the festival, Jack." Dr. Finkelstein concluded, turning himself around to face the skeleton. "Who are they?" he asked, catching sight of the two men. "Here to steal my ideas?" he growled.

"No, no! Dr. Finkelstein, these are my new friends, Axel and Roxas. They're here to write about this historic moment and your brilliant experiment."

"Hnnn. I see how a cat can be scary – many people consider them bad omens – but what's scary about a vampire?" the scientist demanded as he gestured at the writer.

"Hey! Vampires are scary," Axel argued. Dr. Finkelstein shook his head.

"They used to be. Now everyone wants to date them. Well, let's get on with it. Igor! Bring in the subject!" A grating noise was heard as metal bars scraped along the cement floor and a small hunchback pushed in a cage containing one of the shadow monsters from Axel's first foray into horror. "We've had this creature housed in a light unit to keep him from escaping. Hopefully that won't be the case after this."

Axel and Roxas watched as Jack helped Igor strap the struggling shadow monster onto the table. The doctor finished his last minute preparations, including placing a make-shift heart of patchwork and iron onto a long metal pole, before turning and yanking on the switch. Electricity flashed in arcs across the lab before fixing on the heart, causing the metal rod to spin as it approached the bound shadow. A high pitched whining emitted from the machinery as the shadow struggled against its bonds. The heart spun faster and faster as it pushed against the creature's chest.

"It's gonna blow," Roxas muttered, eying the whirling machinery. No sooner had the words left the man's mouth than the whining abated and the machinery ground to a halt.

"Blast!" Dr. Finkelstein cursed before motioning for Igor to take the shadow monster away.

"My hopes! My dreams!" Jack moaned, despair etched onto every surface of his skull.

"I don't understand! It was a perfectly good heart. The science was sound." Dr. Finkelstein turned back to his diagram. "Sally!"

"Sally?" Axel asked, not following the scientist's train of thought.

"Of course, Sally. She has memory. Find her so we can add memory to the heart and try the experiment again!" the doctor ordered. "Problem?" he asked, catching sight of Roxas' scowl.

"Who's Sally, what does she look like and where would we even look for her?" Roxas asked, ticking off the questions on his fingers as his tail twitched in agitation. Taking orders from one mad person was his limit.

"Sally is one of Dr. Finkelstein's creations," Jack explained. "She's a rag doll; she has long brown hair and a dress made out of patchwork. The last time I saw her she was heading toward the graveyard."

"We'll find her," Axel assured as he nudged the blond out the door. Roxas stomped out of the house ahead of the red-head, crossing his arms and letting out a huff of annoyance as he reached the street. Seeing the blond's face Axel rolled his eyes as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Oh, come on, Roxas! You were the one who said you wanted to fix this. They've got a plan, so let's help them with it." Axel argued. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"You just can't leave anything alone. Fine, let's go check the graveyard," he stated as he uncrossed his arms and headed back toward Guillotine Square.

"She could have left by now!" Axel stated.

"Then I'll check the graveyard myself." Roxas shouted back, never breaking his stride.

"Well what should I do?" Axel asked as he threw his arms out to his sides.

"Do whatever you want!" Roxas shouted before muttering, "You usually do."

"Dammit, blondie," Axel muttered as he let his arms drop back to his sides before turning on his heel and heading further into town.

Roxas hunched his shoulders against the cold as he stalked back to the town square. The news of Axel's characters worried the smaller man to no end and the red-head's ambivalent attitude toward the entire night's proceedings had grated on the blond's nerves. Roxas bared his canines in agitation as he growled low in his throat before shaking his head. Axel wasn't his problem right now; right now he had to find Sally and try to fix the mess Axel's writings had created. He re-entered the square and followed the wall until he came to a set of stairs leading to a gate. Squeezing through a small gap in the bars Roxas found himself among the final rows of a massive graveyard which led to a large curly hill. He stepped cautiously around the gravestones, using his newly heightened senses to aid him.

"Sally?" he called, pausing to listen to leaves rustling. "Sally, Dr. Finkelstein and Jack Skellington sent me to get memory from you. Concerning a heart for the Terrors?" A low moaning sound came from behind on of the large monuments with a stone gargoyle and the blond adjusted his path accordingly. He increased his pace, slightly worried that the rag doll might have tripped and injured herself among the numerous headstones. It was only as he rounded the monument that he realized how impetuously he had acted. A small army of zombies staggered towards him and the figure he had thought was a stone gargoyle was, in fact, a harpy. Roxas' ears flattened against his head as a territorial hiss emitted from his mouth. A quick glance at his left wrist confirmed that his bracelet was still on his wrist. Quickly pressing the white squares in the correct sequence he stepped back as his keyblade appeared. Grabbing the handle, Roxas sent a silent thanks to Sora and Riku for all the private lessons they'd given him. Taking a defensive stance Roxas eyed his enemy. The harpy was going to be his biggest problem – he wasn't used to fighting aerial enemies. He could manage the zombies as long as he stayed out of the middle of the group but he was slightly more worried about what he had missed on his first assessment of the enemy. A few straggling mushroom heads were at the back of the group and Roxas was _not_ looking forward to trying to evade their poisonous puke.

The first of the five zombies lurched toward the blond and Roxas reacted quickly, slicing the head from the neck. The sudden movement jarred the harpy to life and she took to the skies with a shriek of anger. The blond hazarded a look to the sky; the harpy was a black silhouette against the silver clouds and was circling like a vulture though she seemed to be holding her height above the ground. Comforted for the moment Roxas turned his attention to the remaining zombies. Another zombie had broken away from the pack and the blond seized his chance, leaping dexterously into the air. His assault was impeded by a metal choker around the woman's neck but he used his momentum to whirl around and attack again, making sure his blade hit higher this time. He smiled as the head went rolling among the gravestones but his glee was short lived. Realizing he had inadvertently moved himself closer to the mushroom heads Roxas stumbled backwards, falling on his ass. He clambered to his feet and shook off the pain before locking onto the two remaining zombies. The man on the right was closer than the woman on the left and Roxas attacked, knocking the man off balance before sending his head rolling. He refocused on the woman, but his initial attack was cut short as he was knocked out of the air by the harpy. He hit the ground and rolled – his keyblade flying out of his hands. Pulling himself into a crouched position the blond eyed his bloody left arm. A shriek drew his attention back to the sky where the harpy was circling for another attack. As the harpy dove out of the sky, Roxas barrel-rolled to the right and clasped his keyblade. He quickly stood and spun before being caught off-guard at the close proximity of the remaining zombie. She lurched forward and Roxas barely had time to bring his arms up before she was on him. He struggled, his strength weakened by his wounded arm, but finally managed to push her back. He quickly struck with his blade before crouching back down. The zombies might have been taken care of but he still had a pissed off harpy and mushroom heads to deal with. Another shriek warned Roxas of the impending danger and he shoved off the ground and rolled. Ignoring the searing pain in his arm Roxas quickly regained his feet, ready to slash at the harpy. His attention was arrested as two burning circles spun through the air – the first burning through the harpy, the second incinerating the poisonous mushroom heads. The flames went out and as the circles spun back in the direction they had come from Roxas could see that they were some weird type of weapon. It was only when the blond saw a pissed off Axel snack the spinning weapons out of the air that he fully realized what had happened.

"Axel..." Roxas started but he trailed off feeling light-headed from the pain and blood loss. The angry look morphed into worry.

"Is he badly hurt? I may be able to help him." A soft voice stated and the two men turned to see a young female step out from behind a gravestone. "I'm Sally and this is Zero, Jack's dog," she introduced as a ghost dog floated through the gravestone after her. Roxas was slightly amused to note that the dog had a glowing jack-o'-lantern as a nose but the amusement was short lived when Sally began to gently prod his arm. The blond bit back the yowl that wanted to escape but he could do nothing to stop his knees from buckling. Axel caught the smaller man and glared at the rag doll. "We better sit him down on a headstone. The scratches look deep but I don't think he'll need stitches," she explained, unperturbed by Axel's hostility.

"And what were _you_ doing here?" Axel asked.

"I come here to clear my head and pick herbs," Sally explained as she scanned the ground amongst the graves. "I was restocking on Witch Hazel when the Terrors showed up. Not wanting to draw attention to myself I hid, hoping that they'd go away soon. That was an hour ago. You and your friend saved me." She stated, gathering various plants and crushing them on a rock. She mixed until she had a thick paste. "Do you have a rag?" she asked Axel and the red-head pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. "Wet it in the square fountain." Once Axel had complied Sally took the damp cloth and wiped away the dirt and clotting blood from Roxas' wounds before applying the paste to the long gashes. Roxas hissed in pain but otherwise made no effort to jerk away.

"Thanks," he grit out as Sally took a spare piece of patchwork and tied it around the blond's arm as a bandage.

"You said Jack and Dr. Finkelstein sent you for the memory?" Sally asked as Axel helped the blond to stand.

"Yeah, for the heart they're working on." Roxas confirmed, leaning heavily on Axel's arm. The rag doll reached into a pocket of her dress and pulled out a flower.

"The memory is a flower?" Axel asked incredulously as he took it from the woman.

"It's a Forget-Me-Not," Roxas explained. Understanding dawned across the writer's face as Sally nodded at the blond's explanation.

"Please tell Jack to be careful," Sally requested. "He tends to become blind to the danger once he has his mind set on something. I'm worried for him." Roxas agreed and the two men watched as Sally gathered her things and left them alone, Zero drifting after her. Roxas sighed before turning and picking up his keyblade. He waited as his bracelet glowed and stored the keyblade before turning back and catching the odd look on Axel's face.

"What?" he asked the red-head warily.

"I didn't know you could fight. What were you battling with anyway?"

"Sora and Riku trained me, after they made it back to Destiny Islands. They said it would be good for me to learn in case I needed it some day." Roxas paused and fingered his bracelet nervously. "It's called a keyblade."

"A keyblade? Like in the story?" Axel asked. Roxas nodded.

"Sora had it made for me. He has one, too. They're almost identical, except for the charms on the end of them." Roxas explained. "But what the hell were _you_ fighting with?" Axel laughed before lifting one of his weapons up.

"They're called chakrams," he explained, letting the blond examine them. The weapon itself was circular, the two bars crossing in the middle which allowed their wielder handholds without harming themselves. The outside of the circle was peppered with mini blades and Roxas could imagine how easily they could cut through flesh while spinning.

"Interesting," Roxas stated slowly, peering intently at the weapon before handing it back to Axel, giving the taller man the same intense scrutiny. "We should get back to Dr. Finkelstein and give him the Forget-Me-Not," he stated, shoving his hands in his pockets and heading back toward the town square. Axel took a moment to watch the blond before trailing after him.

"You're more of a bad ass than I thought you were. For an English dork," Axel told him as he nudged his right arm. Roxas snorted in response. "Does your arm still hurt?" he asked as he pushed a button inside each of the chakrams. The weapons immediately began shrinking – the blades retracted into the metal – and soon each of the weapons was no bigger than the size of a ring. The red-head grabbed both of them and shoved one onto each of his middle fingers.

"Nah, it feels numb now." Roxas stated as Axel pulled the door to the doctor's house open. They entered but Roxas stopped short and Axel turned to see what was wrong. "I'm sorry. About before."

"It's fine." Axel stated. "We're both just tired and irritable and we always get more snarky with each other when that happens." A sly grin slid onto the red-head's lips. "You _must_ be tired if you're apologizing."

"It didn't even leave a bad taste in my mouth," Roxas shot back as he led the way up the steps.

"Wait for it," Axel stated, continuing the joke.

"Yep, there it is," the blond grimaced and they both laughed as they entered the laboratory.

"Did you find Sally?" Jack asked eagerly before noticing the shorter man's arm. "Oh, no... What happened?"

"We're running out of time with the Terrors," Axel explained as he handed the Forget-Me-Not over to Dr. Finkelstein. "They're getting out of control. Roxas ran into some of them in the graveyard and they attacked. We took care of them and Sally's alright but I really think we need to get this heart finished as soon as possible."

"We just need one final ingredient to complete it." Dr. Finkelstein stated. "Surprise. The mayor should be able to help you with that." Axel shot the doctor a look which clearly read, 'Are you kidding me?'

"And where is the Mayor?" Roxas asked, fully resigned to seeing this experiment through.

"He was heading to the Boneyard. He said he was working on something private," Jack explained. "I'll go with you." Axel nodded in agreement before turning to his companion.

"Do you want to stay here?"

"And have you two running around unsupervised? Like hell." Roxas rolled his eyes. "Come on," Roxas sighed as he turned to the skeleton. "Lead the way."

* * *

"Gee, I feel like we were just here." Axel exclaimed as they entered the graveyard. Roxas rolled his eyes but a small smile played on his lips.

"This way," Jack stated, leading the pair further into the graveyard. They passed row after row of headstones and monuments before they finally reached an above-ground coffin.

"Oh, please tell me that's empty." Roxas begged as Jack began pushing the lid back.

"What's the matter, blondie, worried you'll see something gross? Or maybe something hot..." Axel raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"Necrophiliac is gross, Axel." Roxas stated, smacking the writer upside the head. Their conversation was cut off as Jack finished separating the lid from the coffin, revealing a hidden passageway inside the coffin. "God, it's like some horrible Gothic romance novel," Roxas bemoaned as he climbed down into the stone passageway.

"You mean you actually read those things?" Axel asked incredulously.

"It was required for my dorky English degree," the editor explained hotly, glad that the dark passageway was hiding his blush.

"Sure it was," Axel agreed in a tone which clearly showed he didn't believe the blond one bit.

"Here we are!" Jack interrupted and the three climbed out to find themselves in another section of the graveyard. The skeleton headed toward the back of the boneyard, leading the two men around a large pumpkin to get there. As they neared the end of the boneyard, Axel could make out the Mayor's silhouette.

"Good evening, Mayor." Axel greeted as the trio approached the squat man. The Mayor grinned, evidently pleased about something.

"How's the writing going, boys? I'm sure Jack and Dr. Finkelstein have given you plenty to write about."

"And then some," Roxas muttered but the Mayor either didn't hear him or was too self-satisfied to let the blond upset him.

"I've been working on a little something of my own for this year's festivities. It's a new game for the citizens to play! Why don't the three of you try it out and tell me what you think of it," he offered. Roxas pinched the bridge of his nose with his good hand. Children...he was surrounded by a bunch of children.

"How does it work?" Axel asked.

"Each of these headstones is home to a ghost. They will randomly fly out and you have to remember the sequence. Tap the headstones in the correct order and something fun happens!" The Mayor explained before glancing at his watch. "I've got to run but try it out and tell me what you think!"

"He can_not_ be serious," Roxas stated, clearly unimpressed.

"A little fun won't kill you, Rox." Axel stated as the first ghost floated from his tomb. Roxas refrained from rolling his eyes, but only because he was keeping an eye on the tombstones. He wasn't suffering through this game more than once if he could help it and there was no way he was trusting the red-head to remember the sequence.

As the last ghost disappeared back into the tomb Roxas stepped forward and tapped the headstones. A rumbling noise had the three looking at each other in confusion but the source was soon discovered as the giant pumpkin exploded, showering the three of them in pumpkin guts.

"Are we having fun yet?" Roxas asked sarcastically. Axel ignored the smaller man as he stepped forward.

"I hope this is the surprise Dr. Finkelstein wanted," he stated, showing the jack-in-the-box to Jack and Roxas.

"If it's not, I'm shoving it down his throat," Roxas muttered darkly as he continued picking pumpkin seeds out of his hair.

* * *

"Dr. Finkelstein, we're back!" Jack called as the trio re-entered the lab. "We've got the surprise!"

"Excellent!" the doctor called as he swung around an empty glass cylinder. "Bring it over to the table so I can finish the heart." Jack complied and Roxas and Axel trailed after him. All three watched intently as the doctor crushed and mixed the ingredients together before adding them to his makeshift heart. "Finished!" he cried triumphantly.

"Perfect!" Jack cried euphorically. "Now we can test it on the Terrors!"

"I don't think so!" A high nasally voice called. It was followed by high-pitched giggles and the doctor grabbed the heart before turning his wheelchair and attempting to flee the lab. A small child dressed as a skeleton slid out from under one of the tables, knocking the doctor from his wheelchair and sending the heart flying across the lab. Before Axel, Roxas or Jack could react an older boy bedecked as a devil grabbed the heart and fled, taking the younger boy and a girl dressed as a witch with him.

"Oh no!" Jack cried in dismay as Axel assisted the doctor back into his wheelchair.

"Who were they?" Roxas asked. "And why did they steal the heart?"

"They're Oogie's evil henchmen," explained Jack.

"Oogie?" Roxas snickered. He wondered what type of person was named 'Oogie'.

"Yes, Oogie Boogie. He wants my title of Pumpkin King and I have a feeling he stole the heart because he hopes that by controlling the Terrors he can overthrow me."

"Well, how can we get it back? It's not like we can track them." Roxas stated.

"Track them?" Jack asked. "ZERO!" The ghost dog materialized next to his owner, barking happily. "Lock, Shock and Barrel – where did they go?" he demanded. Zero barked before floating out of the lab and Jack, Roxas and Axel gave chase, leaving Dr. Finkelstein to recover from his encounter with Oogie's henchmen.

Zero led them back into the graveyard and down through the coffin to the boneyard. He stopped outside a large pumpkin tomb and barked to indicate that they should the door and pass through. Easing through the passageway, the three found themselves on Moonlight Hill, the curly hill that Roxas and Axel had spotted on their first trip to the graveyard. Jack held up a bony hand, halting their progress and the two men soon understood why. The hill was peppered with Axel's creations and if they made too much noise they would be fighting their way across the hill. Creeping along like ninjas the group finally made it to the central hill and Jack pressed down a small tombstone, activating a hidden switch which uncurled the hill and the trio followed the hill down to a bridge. Jack motioned for them to stop and he crouched down; Roxas and Axel followed suit.

"What's up?" Axel asked as a sinking feeling settled in his stomach.

"More Terrors," Jack responded. "We're going to have to fight our way through," he stated as he sent a worried glance in Roxas' direction.

"What are we dealing with?" Roxas asked, ignoring the worried looks he was receiving. Axel peered around the corner before answering.

"Just shadow creatures but there's a lot of them."

"Let's just get it over with," the blond sighed as he activated his bracelet. Axel took another moment to look at his – friend? Boyfriend? – Roxas before nodding and sliding his rings off his fingers.

"Try and keep the battle on dry land," Jack stated. "If you fall into the slime of the moat you'll easily get surrounded. If that does happen there are stairs on the side of the bridge that you can use to climb out," he explained and Axel and Roxas nodded before they turned the corner and entered into battle.

Though they were vastly outnumbered the fight ended fairly quickly. Even when injured Roxas maintained great control over his keyblade, and Axel's lit chakrams sent the shadow creatures running for cover while Jack held his own against the enemy. With the shadows scattering Axel checked on the blond. Roxas was leaning against one of the bridge posts catching his breath but the writer was glad to see that he had no new injuries.

"Hanging in there, tough guy?" Axel joked and Roxas glared at him.

"Oogie's house is just across the bridge," Jack stated, cutting off any argument which might have arisen. Roxas nodded and shoved off the post, unwilling to hold the party up. He really just wanted to go home and sleep for the next...oh...week or so. The crossing was slow going as everyone practiced extra caution while walking – no one wanted to end up in the moat – but they finally made it to Oogie's house and Roxas easily picked the lock.

"Why do I get the feeling you could easily be a menace to society, Mr. Sky?" Axel questioned but Roxas merely sent the taller man a sweet smile as the door swung open. The entrance to the house was pretty bare but the two men weren't given much time to look as Jack led them to a small platform in the center of the room. Axel lit a small lantern under the platform and the trio rode the wave of heat up to a wooden path. Jack led them along the path until he reached a blue stone pad at which point he turned left and began leading them up a tree. It was at this point that the two men realized that Oogie Boogie's house was actually built to _include_ the tree. Their progress slowed as the climbing became more difficult near the top but they finally managed to reach what Roxas mentally dubbed the Evil Playroom. Aside from a lever at the back of the room there really wasn't much in it aside from various weapons and the three little brats that had stolen the heart. The trio had barely managed to step inside the playroom before finding themselves in a fight with the evil henchmen. Luckily for Jack, Roxas and Axel Oogie's henchmen didn't put up much of a fight and after properly punishing them for being evil little brats they pulled the lever and headed back down the spiral wooden path.

A cage had been lowered and Axel spotted a platform that had previously been hidden by the tree. They jumped from the pathway down into the cage before turning around and jumping from the cage to the platform. The platform led to a door which was below the main entrance and the trio passed through the green door into what could only be described as Oogie's torture chamber.

"Oogie Boogie!" Jack called as he led the men into the torture chamber. "Give me back the heart!"

"You want it? Well then come on over and get it!" Oogie responded. Roxas shot Axel an incredulous look. This sack cloth was what they were going to be fighting? The incredulous look changed to one of disgust as Oogie swallowed the heart Dr. Finkelstein had created. "Now let's see if I can get their attention. Oh, Terrors!" he called and Roxas and Axel braced themselves for an influx of Terrors. However, only two gargoyles appeared next to Oogie. "This is it?" he asked, disbelief coloring his voice. "Nobody disrespects me! Nobody!"

"Be careful to dodge his attacks!" Jack called as the three of them jumped down onto the roulette wheel in the middle of Oogie's chamber. Roxas dodged as exploding dice landed near him and Axel barely managed to avoid being chopped up by a buzz saw.

"How do we get up to him?" Axel asked as Oogie pranced around rolling his dice.

"We've got to raise the platform!" Jack explained, dodging a scythe. He nodded to the lit tiles in the inner ring of the roulette wheel and Roxas jumped on the one lined up with Oogie. As the platform raised, he summoned his keyblade and attacked. He got in several hits before the overgrown sack cloth pushed him back onto the platform and it lowered. As the roulette wheel spun, Roxas was spun to the firing squad.

"Roxas, get out of there!" Axel shouted as he tried to make his way to the blond's aid. Roxas grabbed the bars on the right side of the platform and grit his teeth against the pain in his arm. Using his natural strength and the dexterity granted by his cat genes the blond pulled himself up to the top of the bars before flipping himself over the top and dropping down. "You okay?" Axel asked as Roxas gripped his left arm.

"I think I'm done," he answered apologetically. He glanced up at Oogie and his eyes narrowed. "He's made out of sack cloth."

"Yeah," Axel agreed, not understanding where the blond's thought process was going.

"Sack cloth burns." Roxas explained and a grin broke out on Axel's face as he summoned his chakrams.

"The tiles are lit!" Jack called and Axel jumped. As the platform raised he lit his chakrams on fire and as soon as he had a clear shot he sent them flying through the air. Both chakrams hit Oogie and the cloth caught on fire. As the cloth burned bugs began leaking out of the weakening seams until nothing was left except the mechanical heart Oogie had swallowed. "So, that heart was a failure after all." Jack stated with a sigh. "_Now_ what are we going to do about the Night Terrors?" he asked dejectedly. Roxas sent a hopeless look toward Axel, who furrowed his brow before snapping his fingers.

"I got an idea. Is there a library around here?" he asked Jack.

"Dr. Finkelstein has a medical library."

"That'll work. I'm gonna need a pen and some papers as well." Roxas sent a questioning look at the writer but Axel merely shook his head and grinned as they headed back toward Dr. Finkelstein's house. Once there the red-head shut himself up in the medical library and Roxas had his bandages re-checked by Sally.

"Oh, you were right, Sally. I should never have tried to control the Terrors. What was I thinking?! This was almost a bigger debacle than trying to perform Christmas!"

"You had Halloween characters try and celebrate Christmas?" Roxas asked bemusedly.

"Suffice to say it didn't go well." Sally stated as she re-wrapped the blond's arm. "And this could have been even worse," she scolded at the skeleton.

"Jack! JACK!" the Mayor called, rushing into Dr. Finkelstein's research lab.

"What's the problem Mayor? Are the Terrors attacking again?" he asked worriedly.

"No. They're..._introducing_ themselves to the residents," he explained breathlessly. "They're not evil anymore."

"What?" Jack exclaimed, rushing to the window to look out. Sure enough the Night Terrors were congregated in Guillotine Square talking with the Halloween Town residents. "This is unbelievable. What did your associate do?" Jack asked Roxas. The editor shrugged and Jack hurried out of the research lab to join the throng.

"I take it my idea worked?" Axel asked as he entered the research lab with a loosely bound book.

"What exactly _was_ your idea?" Roxas inquired. Axel held up the short book he had written.

"The Terrors are my creations. It should only be natural that I can control how evil they are, so I wrote a research paper on each of the creations," he shrugged. "They're just like the residents of Halloween Town now," Axel explained as he set the book on Dr. Finkelstein's bookshelf. "Ready to go home?"

"More than," Roxas stated and Axel laughed. "God, shut up, Axel! I'm tired and hungry and I really want a shower," he griped as Axel used the skeleton key to unlock the passageway to Darkling.

Later, after Roxas had showered and taken a nap, the two men sat in a booth at Way to the Dawn.

"It's your birthday next week," Axel stated absentmindedly as he took a sip of his pumpkin spice latte. Roxas froze with his fork part-way to his mouth.

"How do you even remember that?" he asked.

"I only memorize the important things, Rox," Axel stated, a small smile playing on his lips. Roxas shook his head in disbelief. "Got anything in mind?" Axel asked. A small grin made its way across the smaller man's face as he played with his pie.

"Axel...when's the last time you went to the circus?"

~Review~


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Well guys, it's been awhile but here is the next chapter. It's more of character study than an adventure chapter so I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

Roxas shifted in his bed. Even in the perpetual night of Darkling he still couldn't fall asleep. Realizing that attempting to sleep would be futile, the blond sat up and kicked the covers to the foot of the bed. He wished he could talk to Axel but the writer had locked himself in the library earlier with the excuse that he had to prepare Roxas' birthday surprise. So the blond had followed Duncan to the second story of Darkling and had retired to try and sleep. His mind and body had other ideas. And he had to go to the bathroom. He swung his feet off the edge of the bed before groping around the room for a light. In the corner of the room he found a wax dollhouse in a constant state of melting as the tiny wax occupants had flames for hair. The blond paused and his staring seemed to be noticed as the largest wax figure leapt to the floor and four others followed, marching single-file to the bedroom door and patiently waiting for the man to open it. Roxas could do nothing but open the door.

The wax men stuck their flaming heads around the lip of the door and looked in both directions before jumping out into the corridor and waving the blond onward. Roxas' steps fell silently in the vacuum of the night. Though the hallways were empty, noise filled the dark and the editor was glad when the candle people halted by the bathroom door. He would have hated to find out what would have happened if, left to his own devices, he had opened the wrong one. Finishing his business Roxas tried to think of something that would help him sleep. In a normal situation the blond would edit or read until he fell asleep but Axel had yet to write his chapter on Halloween Town and the blond hadn't thought to bring a book with him earlier. He knew Axel didn't want him in the library but Roxas thought he could just sneak in and grab Laurel Parker Wolfe's _Tales of the Ending_ - a book he had already started - before returning to his room.

"Could you please take me to the library?" he whispered and the lead candle man nodded briskly before taking off down the grand staircase. As the candle men congregated in front of the door Roxas eased his way into the room. The wax men didn't follow, mindful of the amount of dry paper. Pointedly keeping his eyes on his book he snatched it up before returning quickly to the hallway. "Back to my room, please." He asked.

The wax figures took the man through the House of Darkling a different way than they had come, into an indoor forest with branches made of bone and into a room so dark that Roxas began to feel claustrophobic before a grating noise arrested his attention. The blond inched along the wall, shaking off the candle men who tried to stop him. His path led him to a bas-relief sculpture of marble faces twisted in suffering. With his heart pounding loudly in his ears, Roxas examined the faces. Noticing that one of the eyes was loose in its socket he pressed his index finger into the eye socket and the wall behind the sculpture clicked open.

The room was empty save for a frankly frightening metal chair with restraints and a wheeled table standing beside it. His interest piqued, Roxas passed through the gauzy veiled partitions to the center of the chamber where he knelt down and opened a compartment beneath the table, revealing a dozen rows of smoky-colored phials, each featuring a white label with a concise description - Strangled, Impaled, Burned, Eaten, Frozen . Roxas' finger paused in its trail and he picked up the phial marked "Burned", pulling out the stopper and sniffing at the contents. It smelled of charcoal and before he could stop himself Roxas dipped his finger into the black fluid and placed it in his mouth.

Suddenly, the blond was not himself. The air was burning around him and he was enveloped by wreaths of flame and smoke. He was carrying something important bundled in cloth and he ran from room to room, his skin blistering and cracking. He burst through the door into the cool night air and collapsed to the ground.

The parcel he clutched unraveled to reveal the scorched face of a man with blond hair and a short, pointed nose, a face he beheld in the mirror every day. Roxas screamed, and as he screamed the worlds lipped away into the blackness of oblivion.

Someone grabbed his shoulder and he spun around, nearly dropping the phial, only to find Duncan standing behind him.

"You and your friend are very good at finding Darkling's most hidden rooms."

"What is this room?" Roxas asked shakily.

"The Death Room. There was a time, before death came, that a great many of The Ending's creatures longed for eternal peace. This room was as close as they ever got for a long time. Now there is no need for this room."

"Who's death is this," Roxas asked, lifting the phial. Duncan crossed the room and lifted a leather-bound book. Setting it on the table he cracked it open before trailing his finger along the columns.

"Burned…here we are. Axel Lea." Noticing Roxas' blanched face he continued, "Burned to death saving his spouse, November 21, 1852. You're Axel is still alive," he stated gently and Roxas nodded, backing out of the room and retreating to what comfort could be provided by a strange bed in a strange house.

* * *

Roxas woke to the feeling that he was being watched and as he cracked his eyes open he caught sight of Axel sitting in a chair in a corner of the room and reading the book Roxas had grabbed out of the library.

"It's not cool to lurk like a creepy pedophile," Roxas stated, his voice rough from sleep.

"You're an adult." Axel stated as he turned the page. "Sleep well?" Roxas thought back to everything that had happened the previous night - how he had tossed and turned, how he had experienced the excruciating agony of one of Axel's deaths - and replied,

"Surprisingly well." And he had. He thought he'd be tossing and turning but the emotional turmoil had sent him straight to sleep. "Let me grab something to eat and I'll be ready for whatever you planned," he stated as he shoved the covers to the foot of the bed.

"Oh, don't worry about eating," Axel grinned. Roxas shot an inquisitive look in the red-head's direction but the writer merely shook his head and shoved a fresh pair of clothes into the blond's arms before gliding out of the room. "Meet me in the library when you're ready," he called and Roxas was left staring at the now empty doorway. His glance shifted to the clothes in his arms before he hastily changed and trailed after the red-head.

"Axel?" he called, slipping through the partially opened doors into the library. A strong pair of hands gripped his biceps from behind and the blond had to check his natural response to fight.

"Do you trust me?" Axel asked softly and last night's images came flickering through his mind.

"With my life," he answered honestly. Roxas heard a sharp intake of breath from the red-head.

"Stay there," Axel ordered as he released the smaller man. "Close your eyes and don't turn around." Roxas obeyed and he felt something soft whisper across his face. He instinctively jerked back but Axel caught him and pulled him back against his chest. "It's okay; it's just a blindfold," he explained. He tied the blindfold over Roxas' eyes before stepping away. Roxas listened intently as the writer moved around the library and he wondered if Axel knew how big a deal this was - that Roxas was trusting him in the dark - but then Axel was back with an arm wrapped tightly around the blond's waist.

"Axel?" Roxas questioned. A soft kiss to the side of his head was his answer.

"Here we go."

Entering a new world when blindfolded was a singularly unique experience and one that Roxas would be sure to avoid in the future. It was like sitting in one of those spinning teacup rides - the ones that you could manually spin during the ride - with a bunch of kids who were intent on trying to make the teacup spin as fast as humanly possible. The blond leaned heavily on Axel until he felt absolutely certain that his feet were actually on the ground. As Axel untied the knot on the blindfold Roxas prepared himself for the blinding light. Except…the writer had removed the blindfold and there was no blinding light. It was nightfall and in front of him stood the most unique circus he'd ever seen. With eyes wide with wonder he turned to Axel.

"Welcome to Le Cirque des Reves."

Roxas turned his eyes back to the circus - the circus of dreams. The whole circus is formed by a series of circles. Rather than a single tent with rings enclosed within, this circus contained clusters of tents like pyramids, some large and others quite small. The tents were set within circular paths, contained within a circular fence - looping and continuous. But what shocked the blond more than anything were the colors. Roxas was used to bright in-your-face colors which caught your eye and drew your attention. In Le Cirque des Reves, the tents and performers were clothed in nothing but black and white. A brilliant bonfire burned within the gates of the circus and Roxas stared at the white flames.

"Chemicals?" he asked, gesturing to the fire. Axel's grin widened.

"Not quite." His eyes sparkled with mischief at the blond's skeptical look but further debate was cut off as Roxas' stomach growled for its breakfast. Axel laughed. "What would you like? They've got delicious caramel popcorn, caramel apples, cinnamon twist things, hot chocolate…" he trailed off. Roxas stood outside the gate and stared at the taller man. "What?"

"It's my birthday and you brought me to a world with a circus that defies every stereotype, not to mention imagination." Roxas stated. And that's the thing about the blond. For all his sharp comments and dripping sarcasm - for as quickly as he bristles - it is truly, ridiculously easy to please him. Axel barely has time to smile before he has an armful of happy Roxas and just as the red-head regains his equilibrium Roxas is off like a shot, dragging Axel behind him.

The blond wanders around the circus, a cinnamon twist crammed in his mouth while his left hand clutches a bag of caramel popcorn and his right hand holds his hot chocolate. Axel trails after him holding his own hot chocolate and the caramel apples. There are as many attractions outside as there are in the tents and Roxas flits around trying to take in as much as he can. Axel is grateful that when their outfits changed Roxas was graced with a bright red scarf, otherwise the blond would be lost in the sea of black and white. For the moment Axel can catch his breath - Roxas' attention has been arrested. Standing on a platform in the midst of the crowd, high enough that they can be viewed clearly from all angles, are two figures, still as statues.

The woman wears a dress similar to a bridal gown for a ballerina, white and frothy and laced with black ribbons that flutter in the night breeze. Her legs are encased in striped stockings leading down to tall black button-up boots. Her dark hair is piled in waves upon her head, adorned with sprays of white feathers.

The man is handsome, somewhat taller than she, in an impeccably tailed black pinstriped suit. His shirt is a crisp white, his tie black and pristinely knotted with a black bowler hat sitting upon his head.

They stand entwined but not touching, their heads tilted toward each other and lips frozen in the moment before (or after) the kiss. There is no stirring of fingertips or eyelashes; no indication that they are even breathing. But Roxas has keen sight even without cat eyes and Axel, as a writer, is used to observing what others miss. It's the subtlest of motions - the change in the curve of a hand as it hovers near an arm, the shifting angle of a perfectly balanced leg. Each of them always gravitating toward the other, yet they never touch.

Roxas turned and his gaze locked on Axel. He smiled softly and Axel could tell that the blond is feeling more subdued as the initial adrenaline rush wore off. Roxas shifted his attention back to the statues for a moment and Axel took the time to admire how good Roxas looked in a suit before Roxas turned back to the red-head. Finishing his cinnamon twist, Roxas shifted the bag of popcorn into the same hand as the hot chocolate and held his left hand out to Axel. The writer grabbed it and if Roxas' hand was slightly sticky from the cinnamon and caramel, well, Axel would complain about it later but not now.

Axel follows Roxas into another tent and they begin to walk through a hallway full of snow, sparkling flakes catching in their hair and clinging to their clothes.

The hall is lined with doors and they choose one at the very end, trailing a melting breath of snow behind them as they walk into a room where Axel must duck to avoid colliding with the cascade of books suspended from the ceiling, pages tumbling open in frozen waves.

Roxas reaches out a hand to brush over the paper and the entire room sways gently as the motion passes from page to page.

"Tell me about your childhood." Roxas requests quietly. It seems almost a crime to speak in the unending silence but he needs to know and he doesn't think he'll ever be brave enough to ask again. Axel glances sideways at him but doesn't object to the blond's request. Instead, he asks,

"Where do you want me to begin?"

"Where all stories start - at the beginning."

"My father had already bought The World that Never Was by the time I was born. I grew up there with Marluxia and a handful of servants. It was…lonely. Marluxia and I never got on - he had happily been an only child for six years before my parents decided to have me and he resented me from the beginning. It didn't help that I never got along with my father either. He and Marluxia always shared a close bond with their love of science and power. I was the willful child who wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to dream and explore…so I became my mother's child. And my father and brother always made sure I felt that way.

"It might have been better if I could have escaped for a bit for school, but my father felt that the education system was lacking and home-schooled us." Axel grinned wryly. "After I came out my father and Marluxia quit talking to me altogether. So when my mother passed, I left." He shrugged. "I've been traveling and writing ever since." He's examining a shadowed corner when he finishes and doesn't notice Roxas' expression of absolute horror. The thing is Roxas had always thought that Axel played fast and loose when it came to emotions. Now, though, he's beginning to realize that the writer had to learn to reach out - that it wasn't instinct but a learned action. Axel, oblivious to Roxas' inner conflict, reaches into the shadows and opens another door and they pass through - the serious atmosphere dispelled after Roxas trips when his shoes sink into the powder-soft sand that fills the room beyond. The beach atmosphere niggles something at the back of Roxas' mind.

"What about the pirates? How'd you come to be mixed up with them?" he asks as Axel wraps an arm around the smaller man's waist and helps him walk through the sand. Axel sighs before letting go and they split up to try and find the next door.

"When I left home, I wound up in Traverse Town. It's such a small and overlooked planet that I didn't feel I had to worry about my father and brother trying to find me." At Roxas' inquisitive look Axel elaborated. "My mother was worried that they would try to bully me into signing over my inheritance. So anyway, I settled in Traverse Town. And it was nice but boring." He grins at the smaller man from across the room. "You know me and my short attention span. And then one day there's this group of people wandering around the streets searching for something. So I got to talking to this one kid - Demyx - and find out that all these people are part of an organization that's trying to search for this treasure. And I think, 'What the hell?' Right?" he asked, turning to look at the blond. But Roxas has tumbled through a hidden door and is separated from Axel.

He walks down a hallway papered in playing cards - row upon row of clubs and spades. Lanterns fashioned from additional cards hang above and swing gently as he passes by.

A door at the end of the hall leads to a spiraling iron staircase - the stairs go both up and down - and Roxas goes up, finding a trapdoor in the ceiling.

The room it opens into is full of feathers that flutter downward. When he walks through them, they fall like snow over the door in the floor, obscuring it from sight.

There are six identical doors, and Roxas chooses one at random, trailing a few feathers with him. He pays little attention to the evergreen forest, intent on getting outside and trying to find Axel but the trees, bright and white, are difficult to navigate. As soon as he begins walking the walls are lost in shadows and branches.

There is a sound of a man - Axel? - laughing nearby but Roxas puts it down to the rustling of the trees as he pushes his way forward, searching for a way out.

He feels the warmth of breath on his neck but when he turns around there is no one there.

* * *

Roxas wanders the circus, his head whipping around at any flash of red. Despite the dramatic black and white of the circus there are many people with splashes of red on their outfit. It confuses the blond and makes him slightly annoyed at how difficult it is to find the red-head. As the night creeps slowly onward Roxas becomes more panicked. He did not realize how large the circus really was and he has no desire to be stuck in this world - Axel, after all, has the key back to Darkling. He is on the verge of a complete freak-out when a hand reaches out of a tent and snags him into it. He is immediately on the defensive but he relaxes when he sees the slim frame of a fortune teller shuffling her cards.

"Care to have your fortune read? It might help you find who you're looking for," she says softly. Roxas bit his lip and eyed the woman.

"Who says I'm searching for anyone?" he questions. The woman merely smiles and shuffles the deck again.

"The cards don't lie, though they don't always offer a clear timeline. Do you want to know?" She inquires. Roxas pauses only a moment before taking a seat. "Cut the deck," she instructs and Roxas does as told, splitting the deck into three. "Which one?" Roxas stares at both decks before tapping the one on his left. The fortune teller stacks the deck once more, keeping that section of cards on the top.

The cards that she places on the table hold no clarity for Roxas. Several cups. The two of swords. _La Papessa_, the enigmatic Priestess. The fortune teller barely manages to cover her involuntary intake of breath as she lays _Le Bateleur_ over the already placed cards.

"You carry a great many burdens with you," she begins. "A heavy heart. Things you've lost. But you are moving toward change and discovery. There are outside influences that are propelling you forward." She pauses and pushes the cards around. "You're...not fighting, but there's a conflict with something unseen." She placed another card on the table. "But it will be revealed soon."

"How soon?" Roxas asked, swallowing nervously.

"The cards do not make for the clearest of timelines but it is very close." She pulled another card. The two of cups. "There's emotion. Deep emotion but you are only on the shore of it while it's waiting to pull you under. It's nothing that I can clearly see as good or bad, but it is...intense. It almost contradicts itself," she says after a moment. "It's as if there is love and loss at the same time, together in a kind of beautiful pain."

"Well, that sounds like something to look forward to," Roxas says drily, and the fortune teller smiles, glancing up from the cards.

"Turn to the left as you exit the tent. You'll find him searching for you," she told him softly. Roxas nodded before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his money. He didn't bother looking at the amount before setting it down and exiting the tent. He barely managed five steps before running into Axel.

"Where the hell have you been?" Axel asks, clutching Roxas' shoulders in a bruising grip.

"I got lost in the tent. Once I found my way outside I started looking for you." Roxas replied wincing at the bruises he could feel forming on his arms. And suddenly the pressure wasn't a problem anymore because Axel had hauled him in closer and was wrapping him in a hug. Roxas froze before relaxing his body and for the first time in five years returned the hug.

"Don't do that again," Axel muttered and Roxas merely nodded into the taller man's chest before pulling back and tugging on Axel's arm.

"Come on. There's something I want you to see."

Roxas hung back in the fire tent and let Axel roam with free reign. This tent was the editor's way of saying thank-you. He was well aware of Axel's love of fire and he knew the writer would enjoy the performers. In this tent he only illumination comes from the fire - which consists of radiant, flickering white flames like the bonfire.

There is a fire-eater elevated on a striped platform who keeps small bits of flame dancing atop long sticks while he prepares to swallow them whole.

On another platform a woman holds two long chains, with a ball of flame at the end of each. She swings them in loops and circles, leaving glowing trails of white light in their paths, moving so quickly that they look like strings of fire rather than single flames on lengths of chain.

Performers on multiple platforms juggle torches, spinning them high into the air. Occasionally they toss these flaming torches to each other in a shower of sparks.

Elsewhere, there are flaming hoops perched at different levels that performers slip in and out of with ease, as those the hoops were only metal and not encased in flickering flames. Axel is standing in front of this platform and Roxas follows his gaze.

The artist on this platform holds pieces of flame in her bare hands and she forms them into snakes and flowers and all manner of shapes. Sparks fly from shooting stars, birds flame and disappear like miniature phoenixes in her hands. Roxas doesn't recall moving but he's standing next to Axel and they both stare up at her. She smiles at them as they watch the white flames in her hands become, with the deft movement of her fingers, a boat. A book. A heart of fire.

"Amazing," Axel exclaimed, wonder evident on his face as they left the tent and returned to the cool night air. Roxas didn't reply but drained the last of his hot chocolate to hide his please smile. Axel twined their fingers together and they continued their leisurely walk around the circus. "Tell me about growing up on Destiny Island." Roxas jerked at the sudden noise before turning to the red-head but Axel's eyes were focused on where they were walking. The blond supposed it was only fair.

"I suppose I had a regular childhood," he began. "I wouldn't say that Sora and I were close but we didn't hate each other. I suppose any animosity we had stemmed from the fact that our father was always pushing us to join the police academy. It was almost like he wanted us to not only live together but be little clones - one just like the other. Sora handled it better than I did." Roxas continued, swinging their linked hands. "After Sora and Riku came back, things were tense between us for a while. I didn't understand why he wouldn't just talk to me about everything that had happened but, like I told you, after I figured out that they were in love and that it was Riku's secret as much as Sora's we finally started talking again." Roxas sighed and gazed at the circus tents. "The biggest argument came when I accepted my scholarship to Hollow Bastion. My father felt like I was trying to be better than my upbringing. We both said things we shouldn't have and it probably would have gone on forever if Sora hadn't intervened and told him that he couldn't expect to live vicariously through his sons. Sora told him he was more than happy to join the academy but if I wanted something else than he was going to have to let me live my life before he lost _both_ of his sons because Sora wasn't going to let him talk down to me. Sora and I have been best friends since and I barely talk to my dad anymore." The blond shrugged. "I went to college, kept to myself for four years, graduated and started working with XIII. And five years later here we are." Axel squeezed Roxas' hand and they continued wandering along the pathways until dawn began to streak the sky and the circus began closing down the tents. The writer led the way to a hidden train and pulled the blond onto a train car. Sneaking into the compartments, he slipped the Darkling key into a door and led them back to the house.

"Happy Birthday," Axel whispered as they snuck back into their hotel room. Roxas gave the writer a small smile before sliding under the covers and curling into Axel's chest.

~Review~


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry for the delay! My poor beta is bogged down with midterms, so I decided to go ahead and edit this myself. Any and all mistakes are my own. Hope you guys enjoy!

* * *

Roxas was a bit put out when he woke up by himself as he clearly remembered curling into a warm body but he didn't even need to open his eyes before he heard the clacking of keys along with Axel's muttered comments to himself. The writer must have had a serious brainstorm because it was the only thing that could tear him out of bed while Roxas was still sleeping. The blond took a deep breath and stretched before opening his eyes.

Dawn was beginning to streak the skies of Traverse Town and Axel was perched on the hotel room's window seat with his laptop. His glasses were perched on the edge of his nose and his lips moved silently as he muttered to himself. The sunlight streamed through the partially opened curtains and it was this light that Axel was using to type. He was so absorbed in his work that he had yet to notice that he was being watched. These types of mornings were Roxas' favorites and he silently feared what would happen once Axel had all his research material and they returned to Twilight Town. Would this – _thing_ – between them continue or would things go back to the way they had been? A small frown marred the blond's features. Axel had said that seven out of ten times their paths had converged in some way shape or form. And the red-head had even died to save his life in another reality. But that didn't mean that _this_ Axel felt the same way. Roxas' brows furrowed as his frown deepened.

"You're thinking too loudly," Axel stated and Roxas nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden noise.  
The writer slid off the window seat, leaving his laptop on the cushion before padding silently back over to the bed and slipping beneath the covers. Roxas allowed himself to be pulled against the taller man without protest – he had since discovered that the red-head was an extremely tactile person and he briefly wondered how Axel had coped growing up in a household so devoid of emotion. "What's bothering you?" The writer asked softly and Roxas silently cursed the man's ability to read people. He waited to answering, choosing first to hum contentedly at the warmth emitting from Axel's body.

"Are you ever planning on going back to Darkling?" he asked, deciding to keep his real thoughts to himself. Axel froze at the question before he relaxed, his fingers lightly tracing the scar the harpy had left behind on Roxas' arm. They hadn't been to Darkling since Roxas' birthday trip and that was nearly a month ago.

"I'm not so sure that it's a good idea to go back," Axel stated. Roxas groaned even though he had been half-expecting that answer.

"Axel, I just woke up. I don't have the brain function required to have a decent debate on the subject so let's just shelve the issue until I've had my coffee, okay?" the blond asked. Axel huffed in annoyance but let the smaller man get up from the bed in order to get dressed. "You can't avoid the House of Darkling forever," Roxas told the writer after he had gotten his first cup of coffee into him.

"I'm not avoiding it," Axel snapped, spearing his eggs angrily. Roxas merely raised an eyebrow while he cradled his second cup of coffee between both hands and Axel sighed. "Do you honestly think it's a good idea to keep world-jumping after the last time?" he asked.

"I thought the circus was very enjoyable," Roxas stated as he popped a strawberry into his mouth. Axel glared at the blond.

"You know what I mean," he stated, his gaze lingering on Roxas' left arm. Roxas sighed in annoyance.

"Yes, I do. But I was the one injured and I'm over it and ready to go back. So all you have to decide is whether it's safer for me to go by myself or with you," the blond stated as he pushed away from the table and headed out to the streets of Traverse Town. He was already halfway through the Third District when he heard the sound of feet slapping the pavement but he kept walking, his hands stubbornly shoved into his pockets.

"Roxas, wait!" Axel called. He sprinted toward the smaller man, grabbing the blond's elbow and spinning the editor around to face him. Roxas jerked his arm away from Axel's grip and glared at the taller man. Axel sighed in frustration, running a hand through his unruly hair. "Okay, look, if we're going to be world-jumping I want both of us to brush up on our fighting skills."

"And where, pray tell, are we going to do that _here_?" Roxas asked, clearly unimpressed. Axel didn't answer but continued onward. For a brief moment Roxas thought that they were actually going to Darkling but Axel veered off the normal path and the two men entered a large drain. As the daylight vanished the echoing sound of their feet on slick stone seemed extraordinarily loud. The unending darkness made Roxas feel claustrophobic but just as he felt his control begin to slip a dim light appeared at the end of the tunnel. "Is that where we're headed?" Roxas asked, wincing as his voice reverberated back to him.

"Yeah. Why?" Axel asked and Roxas shrugged.

"Usually they tell you to move away from the light." Roxas stated and Axel snorted. As they pulled up to the edge of a tiny lake, Axel motioned for Roxas to look and the blond turned, noticing a house floating on a small island in the middle of the lake. "That's where we're going to train?" Roxas asked incredulously. "What kind of person trains people here?" he asked but began following Axel as he bean jumping the stones.

"Merlin does!" Axel yelled and Roxas nearly slipped off the stone he was on.

"THE Merlin? As in, Merlin from The Sword in the Stone? These stones are _moving_." Roxas stated, carefully hopping his way to the island.

"Yeah, Merlin likes to test people." Axel responded, cupping his hand beneath Roxas' elbow as he helped him up the short incline. Once the editor was safely on solid ground the red-head turned to the left and led the way into the house. Inside, a tall, thin old man in a blue robe with a matching pointy blue cap was studying a book. His hair was pure white, as was his mustache and long, flowing beard. He looked up as Axel and Roxas entered and the light gleamed off his small round spectacles.

"Mr. Lea, what a pleasant surprise. And this is…?" he asked, inspecting the shorter man.

"Merlin," Axel greeted. "This is Roxas, my editor."

"Among other things, I'm sure," Merlin stated knowingly and both men flushed. "I've been keeping tabs on you since you were last here." Merlin stated, shelving his book. "And I much approve of your writing over that other nonsense you were mixed up in."

"I know, Merlin. But I have a favor to ask." Axel interrupted.

"You need training." Merlin stated, pulling his wand from his robe. "Well, don't look so surprised," he said, taking note of the two men's expressions. "People seek me out for stories or training and when you have one so adept at telling stories," he stated as he gestured to Axel, "it's not hard to figure out why you're here." The wizard waived his wand and in a flash the three men were transported to an arena upstairs. "Normally I use this arena to train apprentices in magic but it will serve for your purposes as well. Now, is there anything in particular you need to work on?"

"Aerial assaults," Axel stated, releasing his chakrams. Roxas followed his lead as Merlin waived his wand again. The blond let his defensive stance fall away as he looked at his opponents.

"Seriously? We're fighting _furniture_?" he asked before ducking as a wooden chair rushed him. Roxas rolled his eyes at the resultant smirk on Axel's face before throwing himself into the fray.

* * *

Roxas groaned as he sank further into the soapy water. For a week now he had been training with Merlin both with Axel and on his own. Roxas found the magician utterly fascinating with his stories and he had a strong suspicion that Merlin had played a major role in Axel's decision to become a writer. But the blond wasn't in the mood for deep thoughts tonight; Merlin might be fun to talk to but he was one devil of a trainer and their sessions always left the blond bruised and aching. The editor nudged the hot water handle with his foot, letting the fresh water reheat the water in the tub.

"Roxas?" Axel called as he tapped on the door. "Are you in there?"

"No, I'm just some strange and random person who broke into your hotel room to use your tub." Roxas called back sarcastically.

"In that case, there is a positively _hideous_ watercolor hanging above the toilet. Feel free to take it with you when you leave," the writer stated and Roxas snorted as he turned the water off. The previously locked bathroom door swung open and the blond really regretted teaching Axel to pick locks. Said man raised an eyebrow and asked, "Bubble bath, Roxas? Really?"

"You're just jealous because you can't stretch out in the tub," Roxas shot back, glaring at the taller man.

"And to think, there was a point in time when I used to be frightened by you. By the way," he continued, cutting off the blond's scathing retort, "I don't think I've ever been so jealous of bubbles in my life."

"Axel, what do you _want?"_ Roxas sighed, resigned to having to deal with conversation while he was naked in a tub.

"Oh, come on, Roxas," Axel stated. "Neither one of us is a blushing virgin." He smirked. "At least not anymore." Roxas pointedly ignored the burning flush covering his face and waited for Axel to get to his point. He didn't have to wait long. "Actually, I just wanted to say that I think we can go back to Darkling tomorrow," the writer stated. Roxas opened his eyes - he had shut them while luxuriating in the silence - and looked at the red-head.

"Are you serious?" he asked, resettling himself in the water. Axel nodded and the blond grinned. "Good. Now get out so I can get out of the tub," he ordered. Axel grinned lasciviously.

"Oh, don't be shy on my account, darling; it's not like I haven't seen it before."

"OUT!"

Roxas sat on the couch and watched in amusement as Axel flittered back and forth. He'd pull a book from a shelf, read the jacket, and shove it back onto the shelf with a groan.

"No luck?" he asked, hiding his grin. Axel's response was to throw himself onto the other half of the couch with a groan. Roxas took a moment to make some edits to the chapter he was working on before asking, "What about the paintings?" At Axel's inquisitive glance he elaborated. "You know, the paintings Duncan showed us _before_ the books? We went down the rabbit hole, the crazy queen wanted to decapitate us - is any of this ringing a bell?" he asked after noticing Axel's blank stare.

"Oh…right," the red-head said slowly before launching himself off the couch and taking the spiral staircase two steps at a time. Roxas sighed and packed up his work before following. By the time he caught up with his revitalized…whatever Axel was to him…the writer was standing in front of a picture of an old galleon pirate ship painted red with yellow trim. There were two masts and a crow's nest, three cannons on deck and a plank. A Jolly Roger flag was waiving from the front-most mast and Axel's gaze seemed riveted.

"Is that our new world?" Roxas asked, moving to stand next to the taller man. The red-head turned and grinned at the shorter man before grabbing him around the waist and jumping into the picture.

The two men landed on the ship's deck and Axel kept a tight arm around Roxas' waist as the blond stumbled to regain his footing. While Axel quickly regained his sea legs, the blond struggled to acclimate to the rocking motions of the boat. After all, he hadn't been on water since he helped Sora and Riku build that raft all those years ago. He finally managed to get his feet steady beneath him when the Captain's door banged open and a tall, thin man walked out. His curly black hair fell to his shoulders and he was dressed in a long red coat which fell mid-thigh on him. His pants were of a maroon color and ended below his knee, though white stockings covered his calves. A red, wide-brimmed hat with a white feather was perched on his head but perhaps his most shocking feature was not his thin mustache but the hook he had in place of his left hand.

"I'm telling you, Smee, now that we have that dreadful brat, Peter Pan won't be able to resist putting in an appearance to save his darling Wendy," the man crowed triumphantly. Roxas took in the small, plump man trailing after the Captain to be Smee. Whereas the Captain looked every bit the dashing pirate, poor Smee made a comical visage with his floppy red cap, too small striped shirt and blue shorts with sandals. He trotted after the Captain and stood next to him as he scanned the horizon with a telescope. It was only as the Captain swung the telescope in their direction that Axel and Roxas realized that they were standing out in the open in the middle of this man's deck. The Captain pulled the telescope away from his eye and shoved it against Smee's chest before stalking over to the two men. "Hello," he greeted casually, twisting his hook back and forth. "And, uh, who are you?" he asked, voice silky smooth.

"Uh, I'm Axel," the writer stated, slipping his arm from Roxas' waist and subtly moving forward to block the blond.

"Axel…Lea?" the man asked, recognition sparking in his eyes as suspicion darkened Axel's. "Oh, we could use a man like you around here. In fact," the Captain grinned and made a motioning movement with his good hand. "We insist on it," he finished as two of the crew grabbed Roxas by his upper arms.

"Axel!" the blond shouted but the Captain had his rapier at the writer's throat and Smee had a blunderbuss pointed at Roxas before Axel could move to get his chakrams.

"Ah-ah," the Captain stated. "None of that. We just want some insurance that you'll do what we want before we let you go." He told Axel. "Take him to the hold," he instructed Smee and the first mate led the way as the two crew members dragged Roxas below deck. "Now, we haven't been properly introduced," the Captain continued, sheathing his rapier. "I'm Captain Hook," he stated and swept his hat off his head as he gave a low bow.

"And I really don't care," Axel snarled. He kept his eyes trained on his partner until the door swung shut behind him.

"A word to the wise, boy, never let people know your weaknesses." Hook stated as he tossed an arm around Axel's shoulders and led him to the Captain's Cabin.

As they entered the cabin Axel reluctantly sank down in one of the chairs across the desk from Hook.

"What do you want with me?" Axel asked bitterly.

"Just this," Hook stated as he pulled out a rag and began polishing his silver hook. "There is a certain flying brat among these parts known as...Peter Pan." Hook spat out the name. "You're...skill set...will be particularly useful in ridding me of this nuisance."

"And how am I supposed to find him?" Axel asked as he settled himself into his chair.

"Oh, he'll come here. You see, my crew has already acquired Peter Pan's greatest treasure," Hook stated, motioning for the red-head to follow him as he stood and crossed the cabin. He released a floor hatch and Axel peered into the room below. A young girl was locked in the cabin beneath them and Axel examined her as she paced back and forth. Her blue dress covered her shoulders and fell to the floor with a bow tied in the back. Her brunette hair was pulled back and curled into ringlets which fell just past her shoulders. For all her composure Axel could clearly see the distress in her blue eyes. The writer pulled back and stood in anger.

"That's kidnapping," he hissed. "She's a child!" Hook rolled his eyes as he walked away.

"She'll serve her purpose. And you'll serve yours," the Captain stated as he turned to face Axel. "Your name became well known when you worked for Ansem. You'll do what you're told or a certain blond takes a long walk off a short plank into the jaws of a hungry crocodile!"

* * *

Roxas grunted as he was unceremoniously dumped into the hold. He jumped to his feet and rushed to the door but it was already locked. Roxas jiggled the handle before slamming his fist into the wood in frustration.

"Dammit," he cursed, leaning his back against the door before sliding to the ground. He looked hopelessly around the hold but there were only barrels in the corner of the room. Still, maybe he could find something to pick the lock with. He picked himself off the ground and went to investigate, dusting his pants off as he went. For some reason his clothes hadn't changed with this world. As he approached the barrels, a young boy flipped out from behind them. He was dressed all in green – with the exception of his tan shoes, black sword belt and the red feather in his green cap. He floated cautiously around the blond before hovering in mid-air and scratching his orange hair.

"I don't understand. You're an adult; why would Hook lock you in the hold?" he asked.

"Uhm, because he's trying to force my friend to work for him." Roxas answered. "Why are _you_ in the hold?"

"I'm waiting for someone," the boy answered. Before Roxas could ask anymore questions a tinkling sound came from the door and a ball of glittering light shot through the keyhole. "Tink! Did you find her?" Although Roxas heard no sound from the ball of light – a closer inspection revealed a small blond female fairy in a green dress – apparently the boy seemed to have no problem understanding. "I'm not leaving Wendy behind!" the boy argued, effectively drawing Roxas' attention back to him.

"Wendy?" Roxas asked. "The young woman in the blue dress?" he asked.

"You saw her?" the boy asked and Roxas nodded. The boy eyed him suspiciously. "How do I know you aren't working for Hook?" he asked. Roxas sighed in irritation, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Because the crazy guy locked me in here? And he has my friend, too," he added. He wasn't quite ready to classify what he and Axel were as anything more serious. At least not yet.

"Alright, we're in this together. I'll trust you on one condition. There's some type of shadow monster running loose; it takes the shape of whomever it's fighting. If you defeat it I'll know you're on our side for sure. For now we'll stick together – at least until we find Wendy." The boy dropped to the ground and stuck out a hand. "I'm Peter."

"Roxas," the blond stated, grasping and shaking the offered hand.

"Well, Roxas, let's hope Tinkerbell unlocked the door." Roxas activated his bracelet and grasped his keyblade as Peter drew his short sword and together they moved to the door. The editor gently tested the door-handle, smirking triumphantly as he felt it turn beneath his hand. He pulled the door open slowly and Peter slipped through the opening and took out the crew member standing guard.

The next room was what appeared to be another storage room. To the right were more barrels but the rest of the room was suspiciously empty. A large circular column stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, supporting the upper deck but they moved around it and climbed the wooden ladder. Two more pirates were waiting for them and Roxas was glad that his keyblade was already drawn. He and Peter attacked.

Although the pirates packed more muscle than either Roxas or Peter, the two men had the element of surprise on their side. Thus they were able to knock the pirates unconscious before they were able to call for back-up. Realizing that the pirates could wake up and sound the alarm before they completed their mission, Roxas grabbed some spare rope and tied the two pirates up before gagging them. Peter realized what he was doing and floated down to take care of the guard and once he rejoined the blond the two of them passed through the next door.

What greeted them was a – blessedly – pirate-free storage room. There were another assortment of barrels but it seemed that the only way to continue was to climb down a ladder into the ship's freezer. So with no other choice, Roxas descended the ladder as Peter glided down.

"So what does Hook want with your friend?" Peter asked as the awkward silence began to annoy him.

"I don't know. He had me thrown in the hold before I heard his plans. All I know is that he said they could use a man like Axel." The blond stopped short as he found Peter's sword at his throat.

"Axel Lea?" Peter demanded. Roxas swung his keyblade and knocked the sword away from his artery. He took a defensive stance against the flying boy.

"How do you and Hook know Axel?" he asked warily.

"We don't _know_ him. We know _of_ him. And the others in his group," Peter stated. "But I don't remember your name being among that list." Realization dawned on Roxas' face.

"That's because he's not a pirate anymore. He quit. He's a writer now and I'm his editor," Roxas explained. "And we're wasting time being suspicious of each other when we could be helping him and Wendy," he continued, relaxing his stance. Peter kept a wary eye on the editor but he dropped his fighting stance when he saw that the blond wasn't going to attack him. Roxas took that as permission to start examining the new room they found themselves.

It was another vacant room. The only space that was occupied was the two cylindrical support beams and a large wooden storage box. Other than that, the only other thing to look at was the ribs of the ship. Roxas edged his way across the floor until he came to another ladder in the corner of the room.

"Should we go?" he asked. Peter glided up the ladder in response. "So, uhm, how can you fly?" Roxas inquired as they continued down the hallway.

"Anyone can fly," Peter stated. "Well, at least any child I've met. All it takes is pixie dust and a happy thought."

"Is that what all that shimmery stuff is?" Roxas asked, wrinkling his nose at the sparkles surrounding the boy. Peter merely laughed in response and the blond took a look around the room they found themselves in. It appeared to be the Galley and a large fire was burning in the hearth. Above their heads in the corner was a grate.

"Peter?" A soft voice asked. "Peter Pan?"

"Wendy?" Peter called, flying up the grating. The young girl knelt down on the floor.

"Please hurry! The pirates are coming! Smee discovered that you were with an escaped prisoner and Hook has ordered that I be brought to his cabin!"

"What?" Peter asked, distressed. "Just hold on! We'll be right up there!" But before they could move they heard the sound of a door opening and Wendy being dragged from the room. "We have to get up there!" he cried, turning to face Roxas.

"There!" Roxas cried, pointing to a break in the grating in the far corner of the room. Peter was off like a shot and the blond quickly followed behind him, grateful that he had taken gymnastics as a child. He quickly launched himself off the Galley table and grabbed the edge of the shelf. Pulling himself up he turned around and jumped, grasping the edge of the grating. Peter helped haul him up and they found themselves in the recently vacated cabin. "Now what?" he asked.

"We need to find some way out of here," Peter stated, trying to force the cabin door. "I don't think we're getting out this way."

"So...why is Hook trying to use Wendy to lure you out?" Roxas asked as they began inspecting the cabin.

"Because we're enemies," Peter stated. "During one of our fights I cut off his left hand and fed it to a crocodile. I guess the crocodile liked what he ate because he's been following him ever since. It drives Hook crazy."

"You're joking," Roxas laughed but Peter's grin said otherwise.

"If you ever hear a ticking noise but don't see a clock, you'll know the crocodile is around. Hook goes absolutely crazy if he hears a clock ticking, whether it's the crocodile or not." Peter sighed and shook his head. "I wish I knew why he hated me before that, though. Aha!" he cried triumphantly, releasing a ladder from the ceiling. They quickly climbed it and found themselves in the Captain's Cabin but there was nobody there. Or so they thought.

As they headed toward the door, a shadow slithered underneath the door.

"That's the shadow monster!" Peter cried. Roxas gripped his keyblade, remembering his deal with Peter.

"You keep going. Get Wendy," he ordered. Peter paused to scrutinize the smaller man before nodding and continuing out the door. Roxas turned his attention to his adversary, surprisingly unsurprised to see that it had taken his shape. The two Roxas' stood facing each other, each in a defensive stance before the blond finally launched himself at his shadow. He got a few good shots in before his shadow flattened himself out along the ground and slithered away. Roxas followed at a safe distance and automatically parried his shadow's attacks as it popped out of the ground. Roxas rolled to get out of its way before turning and carrying his momentum forward, getting in a combo hit before the shadow once again flattened itself against the ground.

The fight continued in much the same manner for another five minutes before Roxas discovered that his shadow had another trick up its sleeve. The blond was on the defensive when the shadow suddenly split itself into three. Roxas hesitated, not quite sure which shadow to attack, and found himself shoved against the table. He grit his teeth and let out a hiss of pain. His ribs protested the rough treatment but Roxas allowed his momentum to carry him and flipped over the piece of furniture, effectively putting the table between himself and the shadows. For once, he was immensely grateful that Axel had demanded they both train before they came to this world. As if knowing that Roxas was thinking about him, the red-head barreled into the room.

"Roxas!" he shouted, eyes locking on the blond. The smaller man was glad to see that Axel's chakrams were at the ready.

"Watch it!" he shouted and was happy to see two flaming discs take out two of the three shadows.

"What the hell is this?" Axel asked, attacking the remaining shadow.

"Some type of shadow creature. Peter said it just showed up but I don't recognize it from any of your stories," Roxas stated as he rejoined the fight.

"That's because it's not one of mine," Axel grit out. He winced as he missed blocking a particularly hard hit. "Why the hell does is look like you."

"It takes the shape of whoever it's fighting. Where's Peter?" Roxas asked.

"He's coming," Axel answered. "FINALLY!" he shouted. The shadow dissipated under the onslaught and Roxas was grateful to see that it disappeared. "During all the hullabaloo I managed to get away from Hook. He wasn't exactly happy to hear that you had escaped and were helping Peter. Anyway, Hook had Wendy brought to the cabin but then decided to leave her where she was," he stated, opening a hatch.

"Wendy!" Peter cried, entering the cabin. He floated down to where the unconscious girl lay. "Sorry guys, this is as far as I go. I have to help Wendy," he stated, lifting the girl into his arms. "Roxas, sorry I was so suspicious of you. And Axel...I'm glad you're on our side," Peter stated before taking off.

"That was nice of him," Axel said blandly.

"You didn't have his sword at your jugular." Roxas responded drily. "Can we go home now?" he asked. He didn't care if he sounded petulant, his ribs hurt and he wanted to go home.

"As soon as I settle something with Hook," Axel stated. His tone caught Roxas' attention and the smaller man turned and shuddered at the dark look on the writer's face. He did _not_ want to be Hook right now. Axel lit his chakrams on fire and Roxas gripped his keyblade tightly before following the taller man onto the deck.

"Damnation!" The Captain cried as he watched Peter fly away with Wendy. "We have to find that blond! Axel is the only thing we have left, Smee!"

"Wrong," Roxas stated angrily. Hook whirled around and took in the pissed off faces of Axel and Roxas.

"You already made the mistake of taking Roxas hostage once," Axel hissed. "And now you're trying to do it again?" he asked. "Hook, you and I have a score to settle." The writer sent his chakrams flying into the group of pirates. The crew scattered – some attempted to run below decks but the majority, which had been lit on fire, jumped overboard. Roxas headed off the runners and it wasn't long before they were joining the rest of their mates overboard.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Hook begged, hearing the ticking of the clock. "Don't send me overboard," he begged. "The crocodile will eat my other hand!"

"What was it you told me?" Axel asked. "A word to the wise, boy, never let people know your weaknesses," he quoted before throwing a burning chakram at the cowering captain. Hook screamed before falling overboard and Roxas watched in satisfaction as the Captain swam for all he was worth, trailed by a ravenous crocodile. "Now we can go home," Axel stated as he slipped his rings back on.

"Look," Roxas pointed to the other side of the ship. "Mermaids." Along the coast of the Neverland islands, mermaids were swimming among a cluster of rocks.

"Aren't they supposed to be good luck?" Axel asked, leaning against the railing of the ship.

"Depends on who you talk to. Some say they lure men to their deaths with their siren song," Roxas answered. Axel tilted his head and listened for a moment.

"Guess it doesn't work on gays," he stated grinning and Roxas laughed despite the ache of his ribs. "At least it's not working on me. How are you feeling? Any pressing desires to jump overboard and swim to your death?" he asked mock-seriously.

"You know, I was gay before we started this – whatever the hell this thing between us is." Roxas informed him. Axel chuckled before dropping a kiss to the blond's unruly curls.

"Come on, let's get back to the hotel so I can check on your ribs," Axel stated and Roxas willingly followed the red-head as he used the key to take them back to Darkling. Later, after his bruised ribs had been wrapped and he had been given an excess of pain killers he would ask,

"What are we, anyway?" Roxas blearily opened his eyes to look at the writer. Axel paused in his typing and contemplated his answer.

"We're whatever we want to be," he stated. After a moment's pause he added, "For however long we want to be it." Satisfied with Axel's answer Roxas shut his eyes and allowed sleep to claim him.

~Review~


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